• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.43-57
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• 2012

In a modern aircraft, there are many variations in its mass, stiffness, and aerodynamic characteristics. Recently, an analytical approach was proposed, and this approach uses the idea of uncertainty to find out the most critical flight flutter boundary due to the variations in such aerodynamic characteristics. An analytical method that has been suggested to predict robust stability is the mu method. We previously analyzed the robust flutter boundary by using the mu method, and in that study, aerodynamic variations in the Mach number, atmospheric density, and flight speed were taken into consideration. The authors' previous attempt and the results are currently quoted as varying Mach number mu analysis. In the author's previous method, when the initial flight conditions were located far from the nominal flutter boundary, conservative predictions were obtained. However, relationships among those aerodynamic parameters were not applied. Thus, the varying Mach number mu analysis results required validation. Using an optimization approach, the varying Mach number mu analysis was found out to be capable of capturing a reasonable robust flutter boundary, i.e., with a low percentage difference from boundaries that were obtained by optimization. Regarding the optimization approach, a discrete nominal flutter boundary is to be obtained in advance, and based on that boundary, an interpolated function was established. Thus, the optimization approach required more computational effort for a larger number of uncertainty variables. And, this produced results similar to those from the mu method which had lower computational complexity. Thus, during the estimation of robust aeroelastic stability, the mu method was regarded as more efficient than the optimization method was. The mu method predicts reasonable results when an initial condition is located near the nominal flutter boundary, but it does not consider the relationships that are among the aerodynamic parameters, and its predictions are not very accurate when the initial condition is located far from the nominal flutter boundary. In order to provide predictions that are more accurate, the relationships among the uncertainties should also be included in the mu method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.533-556
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• 2003

The flutter and buckling analysis of a beam structure subjected to a static follower force is completely studied in the paper. The beam is fixed in the transverse direction and constrained by a rotational spring at one end, and by a translational spring and a rotational spring at the other end. The co-existence of flutter and buckling in this beam due to the presence of the follower force is an interesting and important phenomenon. The results from this theoretical analysis will be useful for the stability design of structures in engineering applications, such as the potential of flutter control of aircrafts by smart materials. The transition-curve surface for differentiating the two distinct instability regions of the beam is first obtained with respect to the variations of the stiffness of the springs at the two ends. Second, the capacity of the follower force is derived for flutter and buckling of the beam as a function of the stiffness of the springs by observing the variation of the first two frequencies obtained from dynamic analysis of the beam. The research in the paper may be used as a benchmark for the flutter and buckling analysis of beams.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.405-420
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• 2016

Section model wind tunnel test is currently the main technique to investigate the flutter performance of long-span bridges. Further study about applying the wind tunnel test results to the aerodynamic optimization is still needed. Systematical parameters and test principle of the bridge section model are determined by using three long-span steel truss suspension bridges. The flutter critical wind at different attack angles is obtained through section model flutter test. Under the most unfavorable working condition, tests to investigate the effects that upper central stabilized plate, lower central stabilized plate and horizontal stabilized plate have on the flutter performance of the main beam were conducted. According to the test results, the optimal aerodynamic measure was chosen to meet the requirements of the bridge wind resistance in consideration of safety, economy and aesthetics. At last the credibility of the results is confirmed by full bridge aerodynamic elastic model test. That the flutter reduced wind speed of long-span steel truss suspension bridges stays approximately between 4 to 5 is concluded as a reference for the investigation of the flutter performance of future similar steel truss girder suspension bridges.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2007

In this study was made the flutter analysis for the export model of Firefly(Bandi-ho), the small canard aircraft. Stiffness model based on internal load generation finite element model was generated. Mass model based on the weight DB for weight control was generated. Aerodynamic model based on Doublet Lattice Method was generated. Preliminary flutter analysis was made. Based on it, major vibration modes are identified and experimentally obtained via the ground vibration test. The obtained normal mode frequencies were used to correlate the finite element model. Flutter analysis was made again and major flutter mechanisms were summarized. The most important flutter root was identified as a coupled root between rigid body roll mode and anti-symmetric wing pitching mode.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.28-33
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• 2005

Nonlinear aeroelastic characteristics of a two dimensional typical section model with bilinear plunge spring are investigated. Doublet-point method(DPM) is used for the calculation of supersonic unsteady aerodynamic forces which are approximated by using the minimum-state approximation. For nonlinear flutter analysis structural nonlinearity is represented by an asymmetric bilinear spring and is linearized by using the describing function method. The linear and nonlinear flutter analyses indicate that the flutter characteristics are significantly dependent on the frequency ratio. From the nonlinear flutter analysis, various types of limit cycle oscillations are observed in a wide range of air speeds below or above the linear flutter boundary. The nonlinear flutter characteristics and the nonlinear aeroelastic responses are investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.309-315
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• 1996

An analysis is presented on the stability of elastic cantilever column subjected to uniformly distributed follower forces as to the influence of the elastic restraints and a tip mass at the free end. The elastic restraints are formed by both the translational and the rotatory springs. For this purpose, the governing equations and boundary conditions are derived by using Hamilton's principle, and the critical flutter loads and frequencies are obtained from the numerical evaluation of the eigenvalue functions of this elastic system. The added tip mass increases as a whole the critical flutter load in this system, but the presence of its moment of inertia of mass has a destabilizing effect. The existence of the translational and rotatory spring at the free end increases the critical flutter load of the elastic cantilever column. Nevertheless their effects on the critical flutter load are not uniform because of their coupling. The translational spring restraining the end of cantilever column decreases the critical flutter load by coupling with a large value of tip mass, while by coupling with the moment of inertia of tip mass its effect on the critical flutter load is contrary. The rotatory spring restraining the free end of cantilever column increases the critical flutter load by coupling with the tip mass, but decreases it by coupling with the moment of inertia of tip mass.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.149-161
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• 2018

A reliability analysis method is proposed in this paper based on the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) principle in which constraints are specified in terms of the fractional moments instead of integer moments. Then a multiplicative dimensional reduction method (M-DRM) is introduced to compute the fractional moments. The method is applicable for both explicit and implicit limit state functions of complex structures. After two examples illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of this method in comparison to the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS), the method is used to analyze the flutter reliability of suspension bridge. The results show that the empirical formula method in which the limit state function is explicitly represented as a function of variables is only a too conservative estimate for flutter reliability analysis but is not accurate adequately. So it is not suitable for reliability analysis of bridge flutter. The actual flutter reliability analysis should be conducted based on a finite element method in which limit state function is implicitly represented as a function of variables. The proposed M-DRM provide an alternate and efficient way to analyze a much more complicated flutter reliability of long span suspension bridge.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.293-309
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• 2018

The prediction of multimode flutter relies, to a larger extent than bimodal flutter, on accurate modeling of the self-excited forces since it is challenging to perform experimental validation by using aeroelastic tests for a multimode case. This paper sheds some light on the accuracy of predicted self-excited forces by comparing numerical predictions of self-excited forces with measured forces from wind tunnel tests considering the flutter vibration mode. The critical velocity and the corresponding flutter vibration mode of the Hardanger Bridge are first determined using the classical multimode approach. Then, a section model of the bridge is forced to undergo a motion corresponding to the flutter vibration mode at selected points along the bridge, during which the forces that act upon it are measured. The measured self-excited forces are compared with numerical predictions to assess the uncertainty involved in the modeling. The self-excited lift and pitching moment are captured in an excellent manner by the aerodynamic derivatives. The self-excited drag force is, on the other hand, not well represented since second-order effects dominate. However, the self-excited drag force is very small for the cross-section considered, making its influence on the critical velocity marginal. The self-excited drag force can, however, be of higher importance for other cross-sections.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.31-49
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• 2019

Flutter is a dangerous phenomenon encountered in flexible structures subjected to aerodynamic forces. This includes aircraft, helicopter blades, engine rotors, buildings and bridges. Flutter occurs as a result of interactions between aerodynamic, stiffness and inertia forces on a structure. The conventional method for designing a rotor blade to be free from flutter instability throughout the helicopter's flight regime is to design the blade so that the aerodynamic center (AC), elastic axis (EA) and center of gravity (CG) are coincident and located at the quarter-chord. While this assures freedom from flutter, it adds constraints on rotor blade design which are not usually followed in fixed wing design. Periodic Structures have been in the focus of research for their useful characteristics and ability to attenuate vibration in frequency bands called "stop-bands". A periodic structure consists of cells which differ in material or geometry. As vibration waves travel along the structure and face the cell boundaries, some waves pass and some are reflected back, which may cause destructive interference with the succeeding waves. In this work, we analyze the flutter characteristics of a helicopter blades with a periodic change in their sandwich material using a finite element structural model. Results shows great improvements in the flutter forward speed of the rotating blade obtained by using periodic design and increasing the number of periodic cells.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.267-281
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• 2021

Bending-twisting coupling induced in big composite wind turbine blades is one of the passive control mechanisms which is exploited to mitigate loads incurred due to deformation of the blades. In the present study, flutter characteristics of bend-twist coupled blades, designed for load alleviation in wind turbine systems, are investigated by time-domain analysis. For this purpose, a baseline full GFRP blade, a bend-twist coupled full GFRP blade, and a hybrid GFRP and CFRP bend-twist coupled blade is designed for load reduction purpose for a 5 MW wind turbine model that is set up in the wind turbine multi-body dynamic code PHATAS. For the study of flutter characteristics of the blades, an over-speed analysis of the wind turbine system is performed without using any blade control and applying slowly increasing wind velocity. A detailed procedure of obtaining the flutter wind and rotational speeds from the time responses of the rotational speed of the rotor, flapwise and torsional deformation of the blade tip, and angle of attack and lift coefficient of the tip section of the blade is explained. Results show that flutter wind and rotational speeds of bend-twist coupled blades are lower than the flutter wind and rotational speeds of the baseline blade mainly due to the kinematic coupling between the bending and torsional deformation in bend-twist coupled blades.