Radiation efficiency of submerged rectangular plates

The average radiation efficiency of point-excited submerged rectangular plates is investigated in two methods, deterministic analysis and statistical approach, respectively. In the deterministic analysis, the effect of mutual impedance by water loading on the velocity of the plate is illustrated analytically by using a modal summation method. The cross-modal contributions to the average radiation efficiency are averaged to zero by averaging over all possible excitation positions on the plate. In the statistical approach, by analyzing the engineering formulae of the average radiation efficiency in air, this paper modifies the formulae to be applicable in water. The numerical comparisons show that the modified formulae reflect the average level in the frequency region controlled by corner modes and are accurate enough in the region controlled by monopole and edge modes. On this basis, approximate expressions for predicting the average radiation efficiency of the submerged beam-stiffened rectangular plates are proposed. The main differences between air loading and water loading are considered. Firstly, as dry modes taken in analysis instead of real vibration modes in water, the vibration of the stiffened plate is not only determined by the first mode but by several modes simultaneously at low frequencies. Secondly, the “corner mode region” becomes inappropriate as the plate is stiffened. The proposed formulae are validated numerically in different size, thickness, and stiffener amount of the stiffened plate.

► We model average radiation efficiency of point-excited submerged rectangular plates.
► The water loading effect on radiation efficiency of plates is examined analytically.
► We propose modified engineering formulae of radiation efficiency of submerged plates.
► We present approximate expressions of radiation efficiency of beam-stiffened plates.