Discrete conservation and coupling strategies in nonlinear aeroelasticity

As a model problem of aeroelasticity the panel flutter problem is considered to study the discretization of nonlinear aeroelastic problems and the behaviour of the corresponding solution strategies. A fluid–structure discretization that mimics the energy budget of the continuous problem is derived. The set of equations occurring in each time step are implicit in time over fluid and structure. To solve these equations approximately, we employ predictor strategies and fixed-point iterations. We compare the method with conventional fluid–structure methods, addressing applications from transonic aeroelasticity, concerning in particular the numerical prediction of bifurcations.