Supersonic flutter analysis of wings using an unsteady 3D panel method

A frequency-domain flutter analysis scheme for wings is developed using an unsteady 3D panel method. The unsteady aerodynamic force calculation is based on the s-plane unsteady nonplanar lifting surface method, and a finite element method is used to structurally model the wing. The flutter analysis is done using the normal mode approach and a U-g method in frequency-domain. The U-g procedure requires the generalized aerodynamic forces for a range of reduced frequencies calculated from the aerodynamic module. The method was validated by comparing the generalized aerodynamic forces and the flutter points with other numerical results and measured data for various types of wings. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.