A state-space coupling method for fluid-structure interaction analysis of plates

A state-space coupling method is presented for the direct solution of fluid-loaded natural frequencies and mode shapes of plates. This method expands the frequency-dependent term in the Rayleigh integral in a power series on circular frequency. After factoring out the frequency term from the integrands, integration involved in setting up the acoustic impedance coefficient matrices is confined to a frequency-independent part. The acoustic impedance coefficient matrices are therefore frequency-independent and can be coupled directly with the structural matrix into a canonical state-space form to yield the fluid-loaded modes via the direct eigenvalue analysis. A fluid-loaded stiffened plate is involved to demonstrate the method. Numerical results of the fluid-loaded natural frequencies, mode shapes, and modal damping ratios are given to show the efficacy of the state-space coupling method. (C) 2005 Acoustical Society of America.