Hydro-elasticity in flexible multibody dynamics

A method is presented that incorporates hydrodynamic radiation forces in the floating frame of reference method used in flexible multibody dynamics. These hydrodynamic forces are approximated such that the fully hydro-elastically coupled problem can be solved at once using standard techniques. To this end, the elastic deformation of the body that is (partially) submerged is described using Craig-Bampton modes. The generalized hydrodynamic forces caused by motion in these modes are computed using a source panel method. In a frequency domain parameter identification procedure, the solution of the remaining radiation problem is approximated by a transfer function that represents a convenient physical system. This is done such that the corresponding differential equations in the time domain describe a mechanical system. The method is illustrated for a two-dimensional partially submerged cylinder.