Free Vibration Analysis of Elastic Plates in Contact with an Inviscid Fluid Medium

In the present study, a finite element formulation is presented to investigate vibration response of elastic plates in contact with a fluid medium. The fluid is assumed to be incompressible and inviscid, and the impermeability condition of the plate is taken into account. The classical plate theory (CPT), first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT), and Reddy third-order shear deformation plate theory (RSDT) are considered for the kinematic description of the solid medium and the simplified Navier–Stokes equations are used as the governing equations for the fluid medium. For each plate theory, a coupled set of finite element equations is derived. The effect of the fluid pressure is considered as an added mass and its effect on natural frequencies and mode shapes is investigated through several numerical simulations by varying the boundary conditions.