Some observations on the Houbolt-Rainey and peak-hold methods of flutter onset prediction

A subcritical response method for flutter onset prediction developed by Houbolt and Rainey in 1958 is compared with the Peak-Hold Method which was apparently first applied to flutter onset prediction by Sandford, Abel, and Gray in the early 1970's. The rational argument presented shows that the two methods are not different, but are actually the same. So, because there is an analytical foundation for the Houbolt-Rainey Method, then there is the same analytical foundation for the Peak-Hold Method. Further, it is suggested that, in applying Peak-Hold Method in cases where turbulence is used as the excitation force, the variation of the reciprocal of the response amplitude with the reciprocal of the dynamic pressure to be used to extrapolate to flutter onset rather than the variation with dynamic pressure which is the current practice because the linear trend which is predicted to occur for the former is easier to extrapolate to the flutter condition than the nonlinear trend predicted to occur for the latter.