A semi-active flutter control scheme for a two-dimensional wing

Abstract Both theoretical and experimental investigations are performed for a scheme for “flutter taming”—semi-active control of structural non-linear flutter. For a two-dimensional non-linear flutter system, a digital simulation method is used to verify the principle of semi-active flutter control and to study the response characteristics of the closed loop flutter system. Simulation results show that by adjusting automatically the non-linear stiffness parameter of the flutter system, the amplitude of the flutter response can be suppressed. In accordance with the theoretical analysis, a wind tunnel test model for semi-active flutter control is designed. A micromotor-slide block system serves as the parameter control executive element with the monitoring of response signal and the controlling of micromotor performed by a microcomputer. Wind tunnel tests confirm that the non-linear flutter can be controlled effectively by this technique.