Experimental Flutter analysis of the Wing in Pitch and Plunge Mode

In this study, the development of flutter mechanism in the low speed wind tunnel to evaluate the flutter velocity and to study the aeroelastic responses is described. Two-dimensional flutter analysis is performed on the wing of the Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Platforms. The wing is elastically supported in pitch and plunge mode in the test section of the wind tunnel. The experimental set up is designed such that it can accommodate maximum variation in all the parameters. The flutter response of the wing is observed experimentally using meter cabinet. The experimental model is based on the two - dimensional mathematical model. First mode bending and torsional stiffness are evaluated using ANSYS. These stiffnesses are modeled on the wind tunnel using experimental flutter mechanism to exhibit flutter on a low speed. The study shows that the experimental mechanism is reliable set up to perform the aeroelastic studies on the wind tunnel. The flutter speed or critical speed is observed after initial disturbances. Later, it was observed the critical velocity of the UAV wing is far out of the flight envelope.