Analysis of a fluid-loaded thick plate

• Published in: Journal of sound and vibration 2005-01, Vol.279 (1), p.497-507
• Main Author: Hull, Andrew J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Physics
• ISSN: 0022-460X; 1095-8568
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsv.2004.01.051

Central to the study and understanding of slab-shaped material motion is plate theory, which has been researched extensively for many years. Thin plate theory [1] is a simplified version that fails to accurately incorporate dynamic response when the sample is thick compared to a wavelength. In contrast, thick plate theory [2] usually incorporates all the dynamics of the plate and is normally used when the sample is on the order of a wavelength of energy in the structure. More complex investigations have analyzed the dispersion curve for the plate without fluid loading [3-5] or for the plate in contact with a continuous fluid on one or both sides [6-11]. Additional papers have been published that examine plate response to various other loading configurations. For example, studies have explored the radiation efficiency of infinite fluid-loaded plates subjected to point loads [12], calculated the corresponding transfer functions for thin plate models coupled to fluid loading [13], and determined mode shapes for a thick plate with finite depth that is loaded by fluid on both sides [14]. Multilayer theory has also been developed for this problem [15]. During these investigations, the response of thick-walled plates has been typically left as an open-form solution that involves a matrix inverse at a specific wavenumber and frequency.