Experimental study on the interaction of solitary wave with elastic submerged plate

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the effect of stiffness under the interaction of a thin plate with a solitary wave. For this purpose, two-dimensional experiments were carried out with three different plates. Surface elevation, elastic plate motion, velocity field, and turbulence field were measured using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. We first illustrated the evolution of the flow fields. Furthermore, a comparison study of different materials was carried out which showed that the more rigid plate could generate the larger velocity magnitude around the core, but the smaller velocity magnitude at the bottom in the end. By comparing the time histories of surface elevation, the x direction displacement at the upper-left corner of the plate, and the acting force on the plate, it was found that the maximum force occurred first, and the maximum deformation of the plate occurred last. The result showed the higher stiffness the greater wave attenuation behind the plate. Interestingly, it was also seen that the force varied linearly with the wave nonlinearity for different elastic plates. Not only can the detailed flow hydrodynamics and motion of elastic plate be obtained and analyzed, but the newly measured data can be used for validating numerical models.