In this paper aeroelastic instability of a plate in a gas flow is investigated by direct time-domain numerical simulation. Plate deformation and gas flow are simulated in solid and fluid codes, respectively, with direct coupling between these codes. A series of simulations under different parameters has been conducted.
Three types of the plate response have been observed: stability, static divergence and flutter. Depending on Mach number, two types of flutter were detected: single mode flutter and coupled mode flutter. At M = 1.8, a good correlation between the present study and the piston theory for coupled mode flutter has been obtained. At lower M, from 1 to 1.6, single mode flutter in 1st, 2nd and higher modes has been observed. Amplitudes and frequencies of flutter limit cycle oscillations have been studied. It is shown that limit cycle oscillations can occur in form of pure one-mode oscillations, or include 1:2 internal resonance, when fluttering mode excites another mode. In the region of Mach numbers from 1.3 to 1.5, where several plate modes are simultaneously unstable, transition from periodic to quasi-chaotic flutter oscillations occurs.
