Mitigation of hydroelastic responses of a very large floating structure by flexible porous barriers

The role of a vertical flexible porous barrier of two different configurations, namely (i) surface-piercing barrier (SPB) and (ii) bottom-standing barrier (BSB) in the mitigation of hyroelastic responses of a very large floating structure (VLFS) is analysed. Both the flexible barrier and the floating plate are modelled using Euler-Bernoulli beam equation under the assumption of small amplitude structural response. The solution of the associated mathematical problem is obtained using the eigenfunction expansion method. Various results illustrating the effect of the barrier length, porous-effect parameter, and the barrier-VLFS spacing on various hydroelastic responses of the VLFS are presented. Moreover, results on barrier deflection and overturning moments of the flexible porous barrier for various structural parameters are presented. Energy identity is derived using Green’s identity and used to check the accuracy of the computational results. The study reveals that for suitable values of the structural flexibility, porosity and barrier configurations, wave-induced structural responses on the VLFS and barriers can be reduced significantly. Moreover, the study depicts that the presence of flexible porous barriers can significantly reduce the wave reflection and wave forces exerted on the floating elastic plate.