Title: The Flutter of a Cantilevered Structure in an Axial Flow
Speaker: Dr. Justin Webster, UMBC
Abstract: Flutter is a bounded response, self-excitation instability of an
elastic structure in a surrounding fluid flow. Here, we describe the difficult
problems in modeling the axial flow flutter phenomenon for a cantilevered beam,
when the structure’s trailing edge is free and the flow is along the principal
axis.
Much can be said at the qualitative level about flag, flap, and
wing flutter; these phenomena are obviously of great interest in engineering.
However, mathematically, there is a lack of PDE and dynamical systems analysis
of these compelling models. Beyond the obvious applications in aerospace, the
flutter phenomenon arises in: the biomedical realm and in sustainable energies.
Indeed, the cantilever configuration is central to piezoelectric energy
harvesting, whereby energy is extracted from an ambient flow through
sustained aeroelastic oscillations.
In this talk, we begin by discussing recent
results for simpler mathematical models of panel flutter, where the entire
structural boundary is restricted. We then discuss the ways in which analysis
breaks down when the trailing edge is free. We review two classes of pertinent
beam models (including very recent nonlinear, nonlocal inextensible models).
The analytical challenges in the analysis can be viewed as reflections of the
difficulty in modeling the physics of the problem. Very results will be
discussed that address well-posedness and in/stability of various cantilevered
dynamics, along with recent numerical simulations.
