Transient dynamic analysis of a floating beam–water interaction system excited by the impact of a landing beam

An aircraft, idealised as an elastic beam with supporting system, lands with speed on an aircraft carrier or floating airport. The floating platform is idealised as a flexible beam floating in an infinite water domain. The water is assumed incompressible and inviscid. The surface disturbance satisfies a linear free surface wave condition and an undisturbed condition at infinity. A mathematical model is developed to describe this complex fluid–structure interactive dynamical system, which exhibits strong coupling between the systemʹs components. An effective numerical scheme is established assuming that the two beam-like structures are two solid substructures with motions represented by their respective mode functions and the infinite fluid domain is modelled by a boundary element scheme. A mixed mode function-boundary element method is developed to solve the transient dynamics of the system in terms of the time histories of the beam displacement responses and water pressure. The presented data demonstrates the applicability of the developed mathematical model and numerical approach and some insights of the complex interactive process exhibited by the system.