Numerical simulation of the interaction of gravity waves with elastic ice floes

Abstract

The self-consistent motion of a fluid and elastically oscillating plates partially covering the fluid is simulated numerically in the linear approximation. The problem is reduced to the simultaneous solution of the Laplace equation for the fluid and the equation of elastic plate oscillations for the ice. The numerical and analytical solutions, the latter obtained from an integral equation containing the Green’s function, are compared. To solve the problem numerically, the boundary element method for the Laplace equation and the finite element method for the equation describing the elastic plate are proposed. The coefficients of transmission and reflection of surface gravity waves from the floating plates are calculated. It is shown that the solution may be quasi-periodic with characteristics determined by the initial values of the wave and ice-floe parameters. The ice floes may exert a filtering effect on the surface wave spectrum, essentially reducing its most reflectable components.