Dynamics and Aeroelasticity of Composite Structures.

An analytical and experimental investigation was made of the aeroelastic flutter and divergence behavior of graphiteepoxy forward swept wings with rigid body pitch and plunge freedoms present. A complete, two-sided 30-degree forward swept wing aircraft model was constructed and mounted with low friction bearing in a low speed wind tunnel. Four different ply layup wings could be interchanged on the model. Wind tunnel tests on the free flying models revealed body freedom flutter, bending torsion flutter, and a support dynamic instability which could be eliminated by proper adjustment of the support stiffness. Good agreement with linear theory was found for the observed instabilities.