The flutter of a flexible plate immersed in an axial flow is a canonical example of flowinduced
vibrations. This instability can be experienced in everyday life when one observes
a flag flapping in the wind. Because this phenomenon appears in many applications
(paper industry, airfoil flutter, snoring), it has motivated a large literature which has been
recently reviewed by Pa¨ıdoussis (2004). This instability can be regarded as a competition
between fluid forces and elasticity. Indeed, when the plate experiences a small lateral
deflection, a destabilising pressure jump can appear across the plate, while the bending
stiffness tends to bring the plate back to the stable planar state.