The stability of cantilever panels in uniform incompressible flow

The stability of large aspect ratio cantilever panels in uniform incompressible flow is studied by employing linearized plate and potential flow theories together with asymptotic expressions for the generalized pressures. It is assumed that if the downstream wake effects on the panel stability are insignificant then the results will be almost independent of where these effects are neglected in the analysis. Accordingly two approximations for the pressure, corresponding to different ways of neglecting the wake effects, are compared, and it is concluded that such effects cannot be ignored when the mass ratio is large. The results also demonstrate that a two-dimensional analysis (infinite aspect ratio) may yield an overestimate of the critical flow velocity for finite width panels.