Effects of porosity distribution and piezoelectric layers on natural frequencies and unsteady aerodynamic pressure of smart thick porous plates

In this paper, the effects of porosity distribution and piezoelectric layers on the natural frequencies and flutter aerodynamic pressure of smart thick porous plates in supersonic airflow are studied. Based on the third-order shear deformation plate theory and first-order piston theory, thick functionally graded porous plates embedded by piezoelectric layers are investigated. The effective porous material properties, such as Young’s modulus and mass density are considered to vary along the thickness direction. The aeroelastic governing equations of motion are obtained using Hamilton’s principle and Maxwell’s equation. By applying Galerkin’s approach, the partial differential governing equations are transformed into a set of ordinary differential equations. The results indicate that the unsteady aerodynamic pressure and natural frequencies decrease as the porosity coefficient increases. Furthermore, the symmetric porosity distribution predicts the highest unsteady aerodynamic pressure and natural frequencies for porous plates. Besides, the results show that the porous plate enclosed by piezoelectric layers in open circuit condition has higher flutter aerodynamic pressure and natural frequencies than the similar plate in closed circuit condition.