Isogemetric aeroelastic analysis of composite cylindrical panels with curvilinear fibers

The principal goal of the present study is to examine the aeroelastic analysis of cylindrical laminated shells with curvilinear fibers. To attain this objective, the equations of motion are firstly extracted according to the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The linear piston theory is then implemented to estimate aerodynamic loads for various airflow angles over the cylindrical shell area, providing the aeroelastic equations. The well-known isogeometric analysis based on the NURBS basis functions is subsequently developed to discretize the aeroelastic equations of the considered problem. Finally, by writing the resultant equations in the standard form of an eigenvalue problem, the panel flutter analysis of a cylindrical variable stiffness composite laminated (VSCL) shell will be carried out. The comparison and validation of achieved results with the results of references mentioned in the literature are made to demonstrate the accurateness of the present formulation. Also, the influence of various parameters, including the airflow angle, fiber path orientation, radius of curvature, and converting symmetric lay-up to unsymmetrical lay-up on the flutter threshold is studied.