Dominant components of vibrational energy flow in stiffened panels analysed by the structural intensity technique

Abstract Stiffened panels are widely used in naval architecture and ocean engineering, and knowledge about their dynamic behaviour represents important issue in the design procedure. Ordinary vibration analysis consists of natural frequencies and mode shapes determination and can be extended to forced response assessment, while the Structural Intensity (SI) analysis, assessing magnitude and direction of vibrational energy flow provides information on dominant transmission paths and energy distribution including sink positions. In this paper, vibrational energy flow in stiffened panels under harmonic loading is analyzed by the SI technique employing the finite element method. Structural intensity formulation for plate and beam element is outlined, and developed system combining in-house code and general finite element tool is described. As confirmed within numerical examples, the developed tool enables separation of SI components, enabling generation of novel SI patterns and providing deeper insight in the vibrational energy flow in stiffened panels, comparing to existing works.