Structural optimization of aircraft lifting surfaces to satisfy flutter requirements

The research reported in this thesis is concerned with the structural weight optimization of aircraft lifting surfaces when subjected to the satisfaction of flutter requirements. The main text is intended primarily as an expository account on the work and as such it aims at introducing and defining the subject of research and presenting the results. Accordingly, the mathematics have been simplified to the utmost in the main text and heavy theoretical treatments are revealed in the appendices. As the aim of this work is not directed at in-depth studies of the physical nature of flutter nor for a comprehensive treatment of structural optimization, the basic concepts of these two subjects are touched upon in the beginnings of chapters II and III respectively. We concluded these two chapters by clarifying the class of flutter, constraints and design variables for which the program we developed is designed. We endeavored to keep the problem to within certain practical boundaries without loosing too much of either its generality or its applicability to structures in realistic operational environments