Time-dependent motion of a two-dimensional floating elastic plate

Abstract Three methods are presented to determine the motion of a two-dimensional finite elastic plate floating on the water surface, which is released from rest and allowed to evolve freely. The first method is based on a generalized eigenfunction expansion and it is valid for all water depths. The second method is based on an integral equation derived from the Fourier transform, and it is valid for all water depths, although computations are made only for water of infinite depth. These two methods are both based on the frequency-domain solution—however no obvious connection exists between the two methods. The third method is valid only for shallow water, and it expresses the solution as the sum over decaying modes. We present a new derivation of the integral equation for a floating plate based on the Fourier transform of the equations of motion in the time domain. The solution obtained by each method is compared in the appropriate regime, and excellent agreement is found, thereby providing benchmark solutions. We also investigate the regime of validity of the infinite and shallow-depth solutions, and show that both give good results for a quite wide range of depths.