Abstract
Aeroelasticity is the study of the interaction of aerodynamic, elastic and inertia forces. When flexible structures, such as an airfoil, undergo wind excitation, divergence or flutter instability may arise. We study the dynamics of a two-degree-of-freedom (pitch and plunge) aeroelastic system with cubic structural nonlinearities. The aerodynamic forces are modeled as a piecewise linear function of the effective angle of attack. Stability and bifurcations of equilibria are analyzed. The effect of the structural nonlinearity is investigated. We find border collision, rapid, Hopf, saddle-node and pitchfork bifurcations. Bifurcation diagrams of the system were calculated utilizing MatCont and Mathematica.