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We investigate the nonlinear
flutter instability of thin elastic plates of arbitrary geometry subjected to a combined
action of conservative and nonconservative loads in the presence of both internal and
external damping and for any type of boundary conditions. The response of the plate
is described in terms of the displacement field by three coupled nonlinear partial
differential equations (PDEs) derived from Hamilton’s principle. Solution of these
PDEs is achieved by the analog equation method (AEM), which uncouples the
original equations into linear, quasistatic PDEs. Specifically, these are a
biharmonic equation for the transverse deflection of the plate, that is, the
bending action, plus two linear Poisson’s equations for the accompanying
in-plane deformation, that is, the membrane action, under time-dependent
fictitious loads. The fictitious loads themselves are established using the
domain boundary element method (D/BEM). The resulting system for the
semidiscretized nonlinear equations of motion is first transformed into a reduced
problem using the aeroelastic modes as Ritz vectors and then solved by a
new AEM employing a time-integration algorithm. A series of numerical
examples is subsequently presented so as to demonstrate the efficiency of
the proposed methodology and to validate the accuracy of the results. In
sum, the AEM developed herein provides an efficient computational tool for
realistic analysis of the admittedly complex phenomenon of flutter instability
of thin plates, leading to better understanding of the underlying physical
problem.