Chapter 14 - Aeroelasticity

Flutter is an aeroelastic phenomenon in which aerodynamic, elastic and inertia forces couple unfavorably at a sufficiently high speed to produce an unstable oscillation which may grow without limit and so result in a structural failure. Flutter is, unfortunately, not a problem that will just "go away": modern aircraft, in particular, are progressively more flexible, fly faster, and are highly control configured, more maneuverable and more system dependent. The development of active control systems for flutter suppression will actually complicate the problem by introducing a fourth "servo" dimension into the aeroelastic scene and will at best only defer flutter to higher speeds.