Hydroelastic analysis of very large rectangular plate floating on shallow water

In the present study, the interaction of surface gravity waves with a very large rectangular floating flexible plate is analyzed in shallow water depth. The horizontal dimensions of the floating structure are much larger than the wavelength of the incident wave. The associated boundary value problem (BVP) is solved by considering the draft of the plate is negligible, and the bottom surface of the plate is floating on the still water level (SWL). The solution technique is based on the parabolic approximation in which the solutions in the open water regions are matched appropriately with the solution in the plate covered region. The effect of the compressive force on the plate deflection is analyzed in a detailed manner. Further, the occurrences of the blocking phenomena above the critical value of the compressive force are illustrated.