Flutter analysis of laminated composite structures using Carrera Unified Formulation

In present work, the flutter analysis of laminated composite structures has been performed using the p-k method in Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF). In the framework of CUF, a hierarchical kinematic finite element model is used to compute the flutter condition of laminated composite plate and box-beam structures as it is very accurate and computationally efficient. The CUF refined theories are based on the Lagrange and Taylor-like cross-sectional displacement fields. In CUF, the order of the expansion can be chosen arbitrary, which is an independent parameter in the formulation. The governing equation is based on the principle of virtual displacement and defined in the form of "fundamental nuclei" using CUF. Theodorsen theory was used to define the aerodynamics loading conditions and the p-k method was used to compute the flutter conditions. Flutter conditions of different types of laminated composite structures with Lagrange and Taylor expansion were performed. A similar model was developed in MSC-Nastran and computed results were compared with literature and CUF model. The results indicate that the analyzed model has good agreement with reference and MSC-Nastran. The study suggests that the CUF models can produce accurate results with a low computational cost.