Aeroelastic stability analysis of heated panel with aerodynamic loading on both surfaces

Focusing on the aeroelastic stability of thin panel structure of airframe component such as engine nozzle of high-speed flight vehicles, a nonlinear aeroelastic model for a two-dimensional heated panel exposing both surfaces to the airflow with different aerodynamic pressures is established. The von Karman large deflection plate theory and the first-order piston theory are used in the formulation of aeroelastic motion. The critical conditions for aeroelastic stability and the stability boundaries are obtained using theoretical analysis and numerical computations, respectively. The results show that the panel is more prone to become unstable when its two surfaces are subject to aerodynamic loading simultaneously; only if the sum of the aerodynamic pressures on both surfaces of the panel satisfies flutter stability condition, can the panel be likely aeroelastically stable; compared with the general panel flutter problem that only one surface is exposed to the airflows, the present condition makes the panel become aeroelastically unstable at relatively small flight aerodynamic pressure.