International Conference on Engineering Vibration, Sofia, Bulgaria, International Conference on Engineering Vibration 2017

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Ground flutter test of an aluminum panel with simulative aerodynamic loadings
Dengqing Cao, Chonghui Shao, Jie Tang, Lun Liu, Yuqian Xu, Jin Wei

Last modified: 2017-05-19

Abstract


A ground flutter test approach is proposed to determine the critical flutter dynamic pressure of the panel in a supersonic flow. The dynamical responses of each point on the panel are estimated by the displacements measured at certain points of the panel. While the distributed aerodynamic loadings acted on the panel in a supersonic flow are calculated in terms of the responses at each point of the panel based on the piston theory. The distributed aerodynamic loadings acted on the panel are then equivalent to a few concentrated forces which can be acted on the panel through the shakers installed at certain positions under the panel. The aerodynamic forces are functions of the states of the panel and the velocity of the supersonic flow. With the increase of the flow velocity, the equilibrium position of the panel may lost its stability, then the flutter may appear and the limit cycle oscillation may be observed. To validate the results from the ground flutter test, numerical simulation results obtained from a theoretical analysis are given for a comparison with those measured from experiments. The critical flutter dynamic pressure of the panel and amplitudes of limit cycle oscillations from both numerical simulation and physical experiment are matched very well. This highlights the substantial effectiveness of the ground flutter test in predicting the structural response of the panel under supersonic flow.