Nonlinear supersonic post-flutter motion of panels with adjacent bays and thermal effects

Aerospace vehicle structures in the supersonic regime flight have their outer skin subjected to unsteady aerodynamic and thermal loading, which may lead to aeroelastic instability. Typical aerospace structures are built as multiple adjacent panels, the so-called multi-bay configuration, but early efforts to predict the supersonic flutter were based on a single panel arrangement. This work evaluates the aeroelastic behavior of supersonic multi-bay fluttering panels under thermal effects, aiming to improve the understanding of adjacent panels interaction in the nonlinear regime. The aeroelastic model is established by using the first-order quasi-steady piston theory in conjunction with isotropic panel model using the von Karman's assumptions to account for geometrical nonlinearities. The Newmark time-integration method is used to evaluate the resulting equations of motion. The Hopf bifurcation behavior that determines the flutter onset, thermo-buckling loading, phase portrait plots, and bifurcation diagrams for two adjacent panels are presented. The numerical results show the detrimental aspect of thermal loading in the aeroelastic behavior of fluttering panels, and the new findings corroborate with some recent studies that highlight the difference in the nonlinear flutter behavior between a single panel and multi-bay panels. Moreover, the existence of limit cycle oscillations amplitude jumps from a certain level of flow dynamic pressure is also observed. The multi-bay panels configuration also shows the anticipation of the buckled to the limit cycle oscillation solutions, when compared with a single panel analysis. Results indicate that simplified single bay panel assumptions can underestimate the post-flutter oscillations amplitudes of the adjacent bay. Such dynamic behavior may lead to a negative impact on aircraft structural design and fatigue life estimation.