The applicability of the adaptive wavelet analysis in flutter identification in aerospace structures

This paper examines the use of wavelet analysis in detecting flutter in aircraft structures such as airplane wings and control surfaces. Particularly in combat aircrafts, the designs are pushed to the limit to obtain the best performance from the aircraft. It is extremely important to detect the onset of flutter during any complicated maneuvers. The flutter is encountered when the fluid or air excites the structure by delivering energy to the structure instead of absorbing it, thus making the damping of the structure negative which results in excessively increasing vibrations. Use of wavelet analysis has shown good results in detecting the onset of instability in several ground-based structures, and the present study is an attempt to apply it in detecting flutter in aircraft wings. A continuous wavelet transform is used to analyze the vibration signatures from aircraft wings and representing it in both time and frequency representation. The mother wavelet is selected to be Debauches. Debauche's mother wavelet is recommended for applications with impulsive nature. The data are collected experimentally. The results show the applicability of wavelet analysis in identifying the flutter for this type of applications. The wavelet transform has shown a remarkable competency in identifying the flutter in the continuous aerospace structures.