Bifurcation of the Curved Panel in Supersonic Air Flow

An investigation on bifurcation of the curved panel in supersonic air flow is performed in this paper. The nonlinear aeroelastic model for a two-dimensional curved panel with constant stream-wise curvature is built in supersonic air flow and elevated temperature environment. The Von-Karman’s large deflection plate theory, the quasi-steady first-order piston theory and the quasi-static temperature distribution are used in the formulation. The Galerkin’s method has been used to reduce the mathematical problem to a set of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Then the nonlinear ordinary differential equations are studied by using static bifurcation and Hopf bifurcation. The results show that at different combinations of control parameters dynamic pressures, temperature elevation and height-rise of the panel, different static equilibrium positions may coexist. And there are two different mechanisms of the instability onset of curved panel.