A study of the aeroelastic behavior of flat plates and membranes with mixed boundary conditions in axial subsonic flow

In support of the noise reduction targets for future generations of transport aircraft, as set forth by NASA, the fundamental aeroelastic behavior of trailing edge flap technology was explored. Using a plate structural model to approximate the structural configuration and linear potential flow theory to represent the aerodynamics, aeroelastic behavior was characterized for two structural configurations using two different sets of boundary conditions for each. The two structural configurations considered were a) all edges fixed and b) leading and side edges fixed, trailing edge free. In each configuration both simply supported and clamped boundary conditions were considered. Results are compared to calculations presented in the literature for the all edges simply supported configuration.