Nonlinear vibration of laminated composite plates subjected to subsonic flow and external loads

We study chaotic motion in a nonlinear laminated composite plate under subsonic fluid flow and a simultaneous external load in this paper. We derive equations of motion of the plate using the von-Kármán\'s hypothesis and the Hamilton\'s principle. Galerkin\'s approach is adopted as the solution method. We then conduct a divergence analysis to obtain critical velocities of the transient flow. Melnikov\'s integral approach is used to find the critical parameters in which chaos takes place. Effects of different parameters including the aspect ratio, plate material and the ply angle in laminates on the critical flow speed are investigated. In a parametric study, we show that how the linear and nonlinear stiffness of the plate and the load frequency and amplitude would influence the chaotic behavior of the plate.