Implications of cubic physical/aerodynamic non-linearities on the character of the flutter instability boundary

The present paper deals with a study of the benign and catastrophic characters of the flutter instability boundary of 2-D lifting surfaces in a supersonic flow field. The objectives of this work are: (i) to contribute to a better understanding of the implications of aerodynamic and physical non-linearities on the character of the flutter boundary and (ii), to outline the effects exerted in the same respect by some important parameters of the aeroelastic system. With the aim of addressing this problem, the method based on the First Liapunov Quantity is used to study the bifurcational behavior of the aeroelastic system in the vicinity of the flutter boundary. The expected outcomes of this study are: (a) to greatly enhance the scope and reliability of the aeroelastic analysis and design criteria of advanced aircraft and, (b) to provide a theoretical basis for the analysis of more complex non-linear aeroelastic systems. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.