Hydroelastic analysis of a large floating structure

An analytical approach to predict the bending vibration of a very large floating structure of thin and elongated rectangular plate configuration, floating on water of shallow depth and under the action of a monochromatic head wave, is presented. The horizontal size of the plate is huge compared with the wavelength of the incident waves, yet the wavelength is much larger than the draft. The fluid-plate interaction is solved by considering that the draft of the plate is asymptotically zero and the plate bottom surface is located at the water surface. The boundary condition for the fluid flow at the plate bottom surface is derived from the hydroelastic behavior of the plate and is different from the condition at the real water surface. The solution is constructed by matching the wave in the water surface to the wave on the plate bottom surface, i.e., the transverse vibration of the plate. Solutions valid in three sub-regions of the plate bottom surface and two sub-regions of the water surface are found separately to be asymptotically matched. The plate vibration is obtained in an explicit form and its accuracy is confirmed against the results from more computationally involved approach. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.