AEROELASTIC FLUTTER OF CIRCULAR ROTATING DISKS: A SIMPLE PREDICTIVE MODEL

This paper is an attempt to predict aeroelastic flutter of a rotating disk in an unbounded fluid. In the first part of the paper, the linear vibration of a rotating, potential fluid driven by transverse, harmonic motion of a rotating disk is solved. We extend the existing solution for a rigid disk to include flexible disks and compare alternative numerical evaluation schemes. Our principal interest in this problem is the identification of possible physical mechanisms for aeroelastic flutter. In the forced vibration problem considered here, fluid rotation renders the governing equations hyperbolic for low-frequency oscillation. As a result, the fluid motion may be discontinuous along the two characteristics that emanate from the rim of the disk. These discontinuities suggest the presence of previously unrecognized boundary layers near the rim of the disk that may be important for aeroelastic flutter. This idea is used to develop a simple mathematical model for predicting aeroelastic flutter. The model and its dependence on the dimensionless parameters describing the system are derived from first principles except for the compressible boundary layer, which is described by a simple function whose magnitude is empirically determined by fitting experimental data. Although the model is simple, its predictions are quantitatively similar to the experimental evidence and gives analytic predictions of aeroelastic flutter that are within an order of magnitude of the experimental values.