Dominant modes of submerged thin cylindrical shells

The relationship between the dominant mode of the submerged thin cylindrical shell and the flexural wave velocity is investigated. The natural frequency corresponding to the vibration mode is obtained as the solution of characteristic equation of thin cylindrical shell. However, it is difficult to estimate the dominant mode, especially if two or more vibration modes are involved. To estimate the dominant mode of a thin shell in vacuo, the concept of “modified bending stiffness” has been introduced. In this paper, the concept of modified bending stiffness is extended to estimate the dominant mode of a submerged thin cylindrical shell. The dominant mode of a submerged thin cylindrical shell is theoretically discriminated from the other mode based on the smallness of the modified bending stiffness of the submerged shell. The validity of our theory is confirmed by a good agreement between theoretical and experimental results on flexural wave velocity.