Effect of structural damping on chaotic behavior of nonlinear panel flutter

This paper investigates the effect of structural damping on the chaotic behavior of nonlinear panels in supersonic flow. The nonlinear governing equations, based on Von Karman's large deflection of isotropic flat plates, are considered with structural damping. A first order piston theory is utilized for aerodynamic panel loadings. The governing equation includes the effect of constant axial loading in the panel middle surface plus a static pressure differential. The Galerkin approach is used to transform the nonlinear governing equations into a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The resulting system of equations is solved through a numerical integration scheme. Static and dynamic bifurcation boundaries as well as panel limit cycles are determined for various structural damping coefficients. Chaotic analysis is performed using several criteria, results indicate that structural damping highly, influences the panel stability boundary and limit cycle amplitude as-well as the domain of the chaotic region.