DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF PRISMATIC STRUCTURES SURROUNDED BY AN INFINITE FLUID MEDIUM.

For coupled vibration analyses of prismatic shell structures immersed in an infinite fluid medium, a composite element consisting of a semi-analytical infinite fluid element and a cylindrical shell strip element is proposed in this paper. The behavior in the infinite direction can be accurately modeled with minimum effort and great saving in computational cost is achieved using this element. Unlike many other methods which tend to take advantage of axisymmetry to simplify the analysis, this method may be used to analyze the dynamic behavior of prismatic shell structures with arbitrary cross-sections in offshore engineering.