Dynamic instability of composite sandwich joined conical–cylindrical shell interacting with supersonic gas stream

Abstract The dynamic instability of composite sandwich joined conical–cylindrical thin‐walled structure interacting with the supersonic gas stream is studied. The motions of every layer are described by five variables: three displacement projections and two rotation angles of normal to layer middle surfaces. The piston theory is used to describe a supersonic gas stream interacting with a thin‐walled structure. Using the assumed‐mode method, the system of ordinary differential equations with respect to generalized coordinates is derived to describe the structure dynamics. The characteristic exponents are calculated to obtain the regions of dynamic instability on the system parametric planes. Numerical analysis is performed for composite thin‐walled structure with face layers, which are manufactured from carbon fiber‐reinforced composite. The honeycomb core of the thin‐walled structure is additively manufactured from ULTEM material. The properties of dynamical instability regions of the joined conical–cylindrical shell are studied numerically.