Effect of spanwise confinement on flag flutter: Experimental measurements

The effect of spanwise clearance on the critical velocity for fluttering of a cantilevered plate in a channel flow is addressed experimentally. It is found that the critical velocity is influenced by the presence of the walls when the ratio between the clearance and the length of the plate C/L is less than 0.1 and slowly converges to the critical velocity predicted by models considering infinite span plates. These results are in good agreement with the predictions of a potential flow model taking into account spanwise confinement.