Some phenomena for lateral flutter of beams under follower load. (Q1347450)

The author investigates a beam clamped at one end and free at the other. The cross-section of the beam is a rectangle with large aspect ratio. The beam is loaded at the short side of its cross-section at the free end by a transversal force which bends the beam and, if it is large enough, can result in a torsional instability. In this case the force will act as a follower force. Hence, a coupled bending-torsional flutter instability is obtained. There have been numerous papers published in the literature on the effect of internal and external damping on the critical load for onset of flutter. The present paper stresses the importance of the presence of external damping which, however, from the physical point of view, if not provided artificially, occurs less naturally than internal damping.