Metastructure plate with periodically embedded nonlinear vibration absorbers for nonlinear aeroelastic suppression

Abstract A metastructure plate featuring periodically embedded nonlinear vibration absorbers (NVAs) is proposed for the passive suppression of nonlinear aeroelastic responses under supersonic flow conditions. Using the von Karman large deformation theory and supersonic piston theory, the motion equations of a supersonic functionally graded material plate coupled with NVAs are derived from the Hamilton principle. Linear flutter analysis shows that the multiple-NVA design can significantly enhance the aerothermoelastic stability of the metastructure plate. Subsequently, the nonlinear aeroelastic behaviors of the plate and the energy transfer mechanism between it and the NVAs are examined using an energy-based analysis approach. The comparison of bifurcation diagrams indicates that the attachment of periodic NVAs realizes a superior suppression of vibration absorption than a single NVA. Numerical results show that the nonlinear dynamic responses of the plate can be substantially reduced via the targeted energy transfer of NVAs in the post-flutter regime. In particular, the passive control performance of the periodic NVAs does not degrade under an increase in the dynamic pressure. Furthermore, a significant reduction of more than 95% in the response amplitude of the plate can be realized by properly tuning the NVA parameters. The present work demonstrates that the metastructure design, based on periodically distributed NVAs, is effective at enhancing the flutter stability and mitigating nonlinear aeroelastic responses.