Free flexural vibration of a cylindrical shell horizontally immersed in shallow water using the wave propagation approach

The free flexural vibration of a cylindrical shell horizontally immersed in shallow water is analyzed in low frequency range using the wave propagation approach. The effects of both the upper and lower fluid boundaries, i.e., free surface and seabed, are considered with the image method, and the scattering effect of cylindrical shell is neglected. Motions of cylindrical shell and fluid are modeled with the Flügge shell theory and wave equation, respectively. The accuracy of present method is verified through comparison with available experimental works. The modal added mass is introduced to show the influence of shallow water on coupled modal frequency. The influence of shallow water is significant in the case of small water depth and it's the contributions from fluid boundaries. The presence of free surface (seabed) will make negative (positive) contribution to the modal added mass and finally result in the increase (reduction) of coupled modal frequency. But the individual fluid boundary effect will be reduced gradually and finally negligible when the distance between cylindrical shell and fluid boundary increases. The influence of shallow water can not be negligible when the water depth is less than 8 times of shell radius. This work will help to select proper test environment for submerged cylindrical shell.