The hydroelastic response of a circular, very large floating structure(VLFS), idealized as a floating circular elastic thin plate, is investigated for the case of time-harmonic incident waves of the surface and interfacial wave modes, of a given wave frequency, on a two-layer fluid of finite and constant depth. In linear potential-flow theory, with the aid of angular eigenfunction expansions, the diffraction potentials can be expressed by the Bessel functions. A system of simultaneous equations is derived by matching the velocity and the pressure between the open-water and the platecovered regions, while incorporating the edge conditions of the plate. Then the complex nested series are simplified by utilizing the orthogonality of the vertical eigenfunctions in the open-water region. Numerical computations are presented to investigate the effects of different physical quantities, such as the thickness of the plate, Young’s modulus, the ratios of the densities and of the layer depths, on the dispersion relations of the flexural-gravity waves for the two-layer fluid. Rapid convergence of the method is observed, but is slower at higher wave frequency. At high frequency, it is found that there is some energy transferred from the interfacial mode to the surface mode.
The explicitly analytical solution is derived for the dispersion relation of the flexural-gravity waves in a two-layer fluid with a uniform current. The upper＇ fluid is covered by a thin plate with the presence of the elastic, compressive and inertial forces. The density of each of the two immiscible layers is constant. The fluids of finite depth are assumed to be inviscid and incompressible and the motion be irrotational. A linear system is established within the framework of potential theory. A new representation for the dispersion relation of flexural-gravity waves in a two-layer fluid is derived. The critical value for the compressive force is analytically determined. The dispersion relation for the capillary-gravity with an inertial surface in a two-layer fluid can he obtained in parallel. Some known dispersion relations can be recovered from the present solution.
Analytical solutions for the flexural-gravity wave resistances due to a line source steadily moving on the surface of an infinitely deep fluid are investigated within the framework of the linear po- tential theory. The homogenous fluid, covered by a thin elastic plate, is assumed to be incompressible and inviscid, and the motion to be irrotational. The solution in integral form for the wave resistance is obtained by means of the Fourier transform and the explicitly analytical solutions are derived with the aid of the residue theorem. The dispersion relation shows that there is a minimal phase speed cmin, a threshold for the existence of the wave resistance. No wave is generated when the moving speed of the source V is less than emin while the wave resistances firstly increase to their peak values and then decrease when V ~〉 Crnin. The effects of the flexural rigidity and the inertia of the plate are studied. @ 2013 The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. [doi：10.1063/2.1302202]
An analytical method is developed for the hydroelastic interaction between surface incident waves and a thin elastic plate of arbitrary geometry floating on an inviscid fluid of finite depth in the framework of linear potential flow.Three kinds of edge conditions are considered and the corresponding analytical representations are derived in the polar coordinate system.According to the surface boundary conditions,the fluid domain is divided into two regions,namely,an open water region and a plate-covered region.With the assumption that all the motion is time-harmonic,the series solutions for the spatial velocity potentials are derived by the method of eigenfunction expansion.The matching conditions for the continuities of the velocity and pressure are transformed by taking the inner products successively with respect to the vertical eigenfunction for the free surface and the angular eigenfunction.A system of simultaneous equations,including two edge conditions and two matching conditions,is set up for deriving the expansion coefficients.As an example,numerical computation for the expansion coefficients of truncated series is performed for an elliptic plate.The results show that the method suggested here is useful to revealing the physical features of the gravity wave scattering in the open water and the hydroelastic response in the plate.
Generation of the transient flexural- and capillary-gravity waves by impulsive disturbances in a two-layer fluid is investi- gated analytically. The upper fluid is covered by a thin elastic plate or by an inertial surface with the capillary effect. The density of each of the two immiscible layers is constant. The fluids are assumed to be inviscid and incompressible and the motion be irrotational. A point force on the surface and simple mass sources in the upper and lower fluid layers are considered. A linear system is establi- shed within the framework of potential theory. The integral solutions for the surface and interracial waves are obtained by means of the Laplace-Fourier transform. A new representation for the dispersion relation of flexural- and capillary-gravity waves in a two- layer fluid is derived. The asymptotic representations of the wave motions are derived for large time with a fixed distance-to-time ratio with the Stokes and Scorer methods of stationary phase. It is shown that there are two different modes, namely the surface and interracial wave modes. The wave systems observed depend on the relation between the observer＇s moving speed and the intrinsic minimal and maximal group velocities.
An analytic approximation method known as the homotopy analysis method(HAM)is applied to study the nonlinear hydroelastic progressive waves traveling in an infinite elastic plate such as an ice sheet or a very large floating structure(VLFS)on the surface of deep water.A convergent analytical series solution for the plate deflection is derived by choosing the optimal convergencecontrol parameter.Based on the analytical solution the efects of diferent parameters are considered.We find that the plate deflection becomes lower with an increasing Young’s modulus of the plate.The displacement tends to be flattened at the crest and be sharpened at the trough as the thickness of the plate increases,and the larger density of the plate also causes analogous results.Furthermore,it is shown that the hydroelastic response of the plate is greatly afected by the high-amplitude incident wave.The results obtained can help enrich our understanding of the nonlinear hydroelastic response of an ice sheet or a VLFS on the water surface.
