Flutter analysis of cantilevered curved composite panels

A 48 degrees of freedom (dof) doubly curved quadrilateral thin shell finite element is used for studying the supersonic flutter of cantilevered curved composite panels. The composite material behavior is included using classical lamination theory and supersonic aerodynamic behavior is included using linearized piston theory. To reduce the number of dof of the finite element aeroelastic system, a normal mode approach is adopted. Results are presented to illustrate the behavior of flutter characteristics for composite curved cylindrical panels. The effects of fiber orientation and flow angle on the flutter characteristics are presented for selected examples. The accuracy, efficiency, and applicability of the present finite element method is demonstrated by illustrative examples with some results comparing well with the available alternate solutions in the literature.