Dispersion Relation for a Floating Elastic Plate

Separation of Variables

The dispersion equation arises when separating variables subject to the boundary conditions for a Floating Elastic Plate of infinite extent. The same equation arises when separating variables in two or three dimensions and we present here the two-dimensional version. The equations are described in detail in the Floating Elastic Plate page and we begin with the equations The equations of motion for the Frequency Domain Problem with frequency [math]\displaystyle{ \omega }[/math] in terms of the potential alone is

[math]\displaystyle{ D\frac{\partial^4}{\partial x^4} \frac{\partial \phi}{\partial z} - \omega^2 \rho_i h \frac{\partial \phi}{\partial z} = i\omega \rho g \frac{\partial \phi}{\partial z} - \omega^2 \rho \phi, \, z=0 }[/math]

plus the equations within the fluid

[math]\displaystyle{ \nabla^2\phi =0 }[/math]

[math]\displaystyle{ \frac{\partial \phi}{\partial z} = 0, \, z=-h }[/math]

where [math]\displaystyle{ g }[/math] is the acceleration due to gravity, [math]\displaystyle{ \rho_i }[/math] and [math]\displaystyle{ \rho }[/math] are the densities of the plate and the water respectively, [math]\displaystyle{ h }[/math] and [math]\displaystyle{ D }[/math] the thickness and flexural rigidity of the plate.

We then look for a separation of variables solution to Laplace's Equation and obtain the following expression for the velocity potential

[math]\displaystyle{ \phi(x,z) = e^{ikx} \cosh k(z+h) \, }[/math]

If we then apply the condition at [math]\displaystyle{ z=0 }[/math] we see that the constant [math]\displaystyle{ k }[/math] (which corresponds to the wavenumber) is given by

[math]\displaystyle{ -D k^5 \sinh(kh) - - k \omega^2 \rho_i h \sinh(kh) = ik\omega \rho g \sinh(kh) - \omega^2 \rho \cosh(kh) }[/math]

The (nondimensional) dispersion relation for a Floating Elastic Plate can be written in a number of forms. One form, which has certain theoretical and practical advantages is the following,

[math]\displaystyle{ f(\gamma)=\cosh(\gamma H)-(\gamma^4+\varpi)\gamma\sinh(\gamma H)=0, }[/math]

where [math]\displaystyle{ H }[/math] is the nodimensional water depth, and

[math]\displaystyle{ \varpi=(1-k\sigma)/(kL),\quad k=\omega^2/g,\quad\sigma=\rho_ih/\rho,\quad L^5=D/(\rho\omega^2). }[/math]

[math]\displaystyle{ k }[/math] is the waver number for a wave of radial frequency [math]\displaystyle{ omega }[/math] traveling in open water of infinite depth, [math]\displaystyle{ g }[/math] is the acceleration due to gravity, [math]\displaystyle{ \sigma }[/math] is the amount of the plate that is submerged, [math]\displaystyle{ \rho_i }[/math] and [math]\displaystyle{ \rho }[/math] are the densities of the plate and the water respectively, [math]\displaystyle{ h }[/math] and [math]\displaystyle{ D }[/math] are the thickness and flexural rigidity of the plate, and [math]\displaystyle{ L }[/math] is the natural length that we have scaled length variables by. The dispersion relation relates the wavenumber [math]\displaystyle{ gamma/L }[/math] and thus wave speed to the above parameters.