Analysis of Floating Plate under Ocean Waves

The interactions between a large elastic floating plate and ocean waves are investigated. The plate is moored to the ocean bottom and the type of waves considered are either wind-induced random waves or Tsunami-runup-like tidal waves. The analysis is based on a boundary-value problem formulation; i.e., the plate and ocean together are considered as an integral system and related through the continuity conditions at the fluid-solid interface. The wind-induced random waves are simulated through a digital computer according to the spectrum of ocean surface elevation and the response analyses are performed in the time domain using a technique consisting of modal expansion and numerical integration. The results show that a large floating plate with or without anchors can be excited by waves with wave length comparable to the width of the plate producing very large bending moments.