An approximate analytic solution for the radiation from a line-driven fluid-loaded plate

In the analysis of a fluid loaded line-driven plate, the fields in the structure and the fluid are often expressed in terms of a Fourier transform. Once the boundary conditions are matched, the structural displacement can be expressed as an inverse transform, which can be evaluated using contour integration. The result is then a sum of propagating or decaying waves, each arising from poles in the complex plane, plus a branch cut integral. The branch cut is due to a square root in the transform of the acoustic impedance. The complex layer analysis (CLA) used here eliminates the branch cut singularity by approximating the square root with a rational function, causing the characteristic equation to become a polynomial in the transform variable. An approximate analytic solution to the characteristic equation is then found using a perturbation method. The result is four poles corresponding to the roots of the in vacuo plate, modified by the presence of the fluid, plus an infinity of poles located along the bra...