Nonlinear oscillations of a fluttering functionally graded plate

In this paper, the nonlinear aeroelastic behavior of functionally graded plates is studied in supersonic flow. For this purpose, the von Karman strains and piston theory have been employed to model structural nonlinearity and quasi-steady aerodynamic panel loading, respectively. The material properties of the plate are assumed to be graded continuously in the direction of thickness. The variation of the properties follows a simple power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of constituents. The Hamilton's principle is used to construct the coupled nonlinear partial differential equations of motion. The derived equations are transformed into a set of coupled ordinary differential equations using the Galerkin method and then solved by numerical time integration. It is found that the use of functionally graded materials greatly changes the flutter behavior of the plate especially in post-flutter region. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.