Wind tunnel testing of composite wing flutter speed due to control surface excitation

Flutter is a dynamic instability problem represents the interaction among aerodynamic forces and structural stiffness during flight. The study was conducted to investigate whether deflecting the control surface will affect the flutter speed and the flutter frequency. A wind tunnel test was performed using a flat plate wing made of composite material. It was found that by deflecting the control surface at 45°, the wing entered flutter state at wind speed of 28.1 m/s instead of 33.4 m/s. In addition, the flutter frequency also reduced from 224.52 Hz to 198.96 Hz. It was concluded that by deflecting the control surface, the wing experienced flutter at lower speed and frequency