Flutter analysis of composite panels with thermal effects

Panel flutter is a typical supersonic aeroelastic phenomenon taking place in high speed aircraft. Because of the drastic aerodynamic heating effect, panel flutter analysis considering thermal effects becomes an emerging problem in the design process of supersonic aircraft. The aeroelastic model of composite panel with thermal effects is established using von Karman large deformation strain-displacement relationship, piston theory of aerodynamics and quasi-steady theory of thermal stress. In panel flutter equations three-node triangular Mindlin plate element is adopted to consider the transverse shear effect of composite panels. The solving approaches for panel flutter equations in time domain and frequency domain are also presented. The flutter boundaries are calculated for a rectangular composite panel and a trapezoidal composite panel respectively, and the effects of temperature on flutter boundaries are discussed.