Aeroelastic Analysis of Composite Plate Wings Based on a New HSDT Finite Element—MONNA

Abstract

A new Multi-Order Nine-Node Advanced (MONNA) plate finite element is developed. This is a subparametric conforming 68 degree-of-freedom composite flat plate element based on the Higher Order Shear Deformation Theory (HSDT). This element may be considered h-p version, as accuracy is increased by increasing the number of elements and internal nodes are included to aid the rate of convergence. The element formulation is based on Hamilton’s principle. A computer code is written in MATLAB to perform the finite element analysis. Several static and dynamic verification runs are carried out and these demonstrate mostly superior convergence and higher accuracy of MONNA when compared to existing elements. The objective is to study the divergence and flutter characteristics of composite plate wings using HSDT by incorporating the MONNA finite element. The aerodynamic model incorporates the vortex lattice, doublet lattice, and doublet point panel method models. The higher-order plate element demonstrates better aeroelastic convergence and accuracy relative to traditional elements. Negligible difference is shown between FSDT and HSDT for a variety of composite materials and plate thicknesses.