Nonlinear aeroelastic flutter and dynamic response of composite laminated cylindrical shell in supersonic air flow

Aeroelastic flutter characteristics and dynamic response of a composite laminated circular cylindrical shell under combined action of radial harmonic excitation, compressive in-plane force and aerodynamic pressure are studied in this paper. The first-order piston theory is employed to model the aerodynamics pressure. Partial differential equations governing the vibrations of the cylindrical shell are derived based on the Hamilton's principle and the Donnell's nonlinear shell theory. The Galerkin's method is adopted to discretize the partial differential governing equations to a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The four-dimensional averaged equation is obtained by applying the method of multiple scales under the case of 1:2 internal resonance. The critical free stream static pressure originating flutter of the shell is determined by solving the eigenvalue problem. The phase portrait and time history diagrams are presented to demonstrate the character of the limit cycle oscillation of the shell. The influence of different geometrical parameters, such as the radius, length and thickness of the shell, on the flutter characteristics of the composite laminated circular cylindrical shell are discussed in details. The influences of the amplitudes of the in-plane and transverse excitations on the frequency–response curves and force-response curves are also investigated.