Aeroelastic instability of cantilevered flexible plates in uniform flow

• DOI: 10.1017/s002211200800284x
• Publication Date: 2008-08-26T12:33:30Z
• Authors: CHRISTOPHE ELOY; ROMAIN LAGRANGE; CLAIRE SOUILLIEZ; LIONEL SCHOUVEILER
• Keywords: Flutter; Aeroelasticity; Aspect ratio (aeronautics)

We address the flutter instability of a flexible plate immersed in an axial flow. This is similar to flag and results from competition between destabilising pressure forces stabilising bending stiffness. In previous experimental studies, plates have always appeared much more stable than predictions two-dimensional models. discrepancy discussed clarified this paper by examining experimentally theoretically effect aspect ratio on threshold. show that limit cannot be achieved because hysteretical behaviour three-dimensional effects appear for large ratio. The nature bifurcation (sub- or supercritical) also light recent numerical results.