Analysis of free vibration characteristics of cylindrical shells with finite submerged depth based on energy variational principle

Abstract

Based on the principle of energy variation, a calculation model for the free vibration characteristics of a cylindrical shell with a finite submerged depth considering the influence of the free liquid surface is established in this paper. First, the Euler beam function is used instead of the shell axial displacement function to obtain the shell kinetic energy and potential energy. Then, by using the mirror image method, the analytical expression of the fluid velocity potential considering the free surface is obtained, and the flow field is added to the system energy functional in the form of fluid work. Then the energy functional is changed to obtain the shell–liquid coupled vibration equation. Solving the equation can obtain the natural frequencies and modes of the structure. The comparison with the finite element calculation results verifies the accuracy of the calculation model in this paper. The research on the influence of the free liquid surface shows that compared to the infinite domain, the free liquid surface destroys the symmetry of the entire system, resulting in a difference in the natural frequency of the positive and negative modes of the shell, and the circumferential mode shapes are no longer mutually uncoupled trigonometric functions. The existence of free liquid surface will also increase the natural frequency of the same order mode, and the closer to the free surface, the natural frequency is greater. As the immersion depth increases, the free vibration characteristics will quickly tend to the result of infinite domain. Additionally, when the immersion depth is equal to or greater than four times the radius of the shell structure, it can be considered that the free liquid surface has no effect. These law and phenomena have also been explained from the mechanism. The method in this paper provides a new analytical solution pattern for solving this type of problem.