The effect of periodic surface pressure on a rectangular elastic plate floating on shallow water

The steady-state behaviour of a floating elastic plate of bounded dimensions acted upon by a localized external load is investigated using linear shallow water theory. In the case of a plate of arbitrary shape, the problem reduces to solving a system of boundary-value integral equations supplemented with differential relations for the free edge of the plate. Using a rectangular plate as the example, the effect of the frequency of the periodic actions and the positions at which they are applied on the amplitudes of the normal flexures of the plate and of the directional pattern of surface waves far from the plate is investigated. It is shown that waveguide properties occur for an elongated plate.