Effects of initial stress and internal liquid on flutter analysis of cylindrical shell

In order to study the effects of initial stress and internal liquid on the flutter of a cylindrical shell, the aeroelastic equations of the cylindrical shell are established, while a hybrid finite element method of analyzing cylindrical shell flutter is employed. The structural formulation is a combination of Sanders shell theory and the classic finite element method. The nodal displacements are found from the precise solution of shell governing equations. The influence of the initial stress and internal liquid is also taken into account. The first-order piston theory is applied to derive the aerodynamic damping and stiffness matrices. Hybrid finite element formulation and aeroelastic equations are derived and solved numerically. The validity of such a finite element method is verified by the eigenvalue method. The paper focuses on an investigation of the impact of initial stress and internal liquid on the aeroelastic stability of a cylindrical shell. Numerical solutions demonstrate that they do have a marked impact on the flutter characteristics of a cylindrical shell.