Numerical analysis of the hydroelastic behavior of a vertical plate due to solitary waves

Interactions of a vertical elastic plate with fully nonlinear water waves were simulated. Utilizing the mixed Eulerian Lagrangian method for the free-surface flow and the finite element method for the deflection of an elastic plate, a fully coupled scheme for accurately determining fluid–plate motions was developed. Using this scheme, some modifications to the solvers for both fluid and plate were made. A hybrid wave-absorbing beach was installed to prevent wave reflection from the end of the wave tank. A fourth-order Runge–Kutta time-marching scheme with a uniform time step was applied to achieve numerical stability. The method was validated by simulating the wave generated by the initial deformation of a vertical plate and comparing the result with the corresponding analytical solution. For further validation, the hydroelastic behavior of a vertical plate induced by a pulse-type wave (where the initial pulse-type elevation of the free surface is specified) was computed, and the result was compared with another numerical result from a mode-expansion method. The interaction of a surface-piercing plate with nonzero initial free surface was then simulated, and the result was compared with the corresponding linear analytical solution. Finally, the hydroelastic response of a surface-piercing vertical plate due to a solitary wave (generated by actuating the vertical plate at the right end of the tank only at the beginning) was computed and investigated systematically.