On the Interaction of Surface Waves with An Elastic Plate of Finite Length in Head Seas

An eigen-function expansion method based on a new orthogonal inner product is proposed by Sahoo et al. (2000) for the study of the hydroelastic response of mat-type VLFS in head seas. However, their main emphasis is on the effect of edge conditions and they assume that the plate is of a semi-infinite length. In reality, the plate is of finile length. For consider-alion of the finite length effect, the reflection and transmission from the other end must be considered. The effect of this reflection and transmission on the hydroelaslic response of VLFS is of interest for praclical application. Furthermore, the physi-cal meaning of the new inner producl was not given in their paper. In this paper, it is shown that the new inner product can be derived from the governing equation and the bottom boundary conditions. Then the same eigen-function expansion method is adopted for the study of the hydroelastic response of an elastic plate of finite length in surface waves. Delailed comparisons are made between the

On the Interaction of Surface Waves with An Elastic Plate of Finite Length in Head Seas

An eigen-function expansion method based on a new orthogonal inner product is proposed by Sahoo et al. (2000) for the study of the hydroelastic response of mat-type VLFS in head seas. However, their main emphasis is on the effect of edge conditions and they assume that the plate is of a semi-infinite length. In reality, the plate is of finile length. For consider-alion of the finite length effect, the reflection and transmission from the other end must be considered. The effect of this reflection and transmission on the hydroelaslic response of VLFS is of interest for praclical application. Furthermore, the physi-cal meaning of the new inner producl was not given in their paper. In this paper, it is shown that the new inner product can be derived from the governing equation and the bottom boundary conditions. Then the same eigen-function expansion method is adopted for the study of the hydroelastic response of an elastic plate of finite length in surface waves. Delailed comparisons are made between the preseni finile length model and the semi-infinite model and between the preseni model predictions and the experimental results. It is found that that the finite length effecl is significant and the accuracy of preseni model is higher than the semi-infinite model. Furthermore, a new phenomenon, which is not menlioned in Sahoo et al. (2000) , is found. Taht is, for larger L/h ratios, the reflection and transmission coefficients will oscillale with the non-dimensional parameler k0 h. Further sludy is needed for full underslanding of this phenomenon.