Delamination Effect on Flutter of Homogeneous Laminated Plates

The effect of delamination on the flutter boundary of two‐dimensional laminated plates are investigated theoretically. Linear‐plate theory and qusai‐steady aerodynamic theory are employed. A simple beam‐plate‐theory model is developed to predict the flutter boundaries of delaminated homogeneous plates with simply supported ends. The effects of delamination position, size, and thickness on the flutter boundary are studied in detail. The results reveal that the presence of a delamination degraded the stiffness and the natural frequencies of the plate and thereby decreases the flutter boundary of the plate. However, for certain geometries the flutter boundaries were raised due to the flutter coalescence modes of the plate altered by the presence of a delamination in the plate.