A monolithic Finite Element formulation for the hydroelastic analysis of Very Large Floating Structures

Abstract: In this work we present a novel monolithic Finite Element Method (FEM) for the hydroelastic analysis of Very Large Floating Structures (VLFS) with arbitrary shapes that is stable, energy conserving and overcomes the need of an iterative algorithm. The new formulation enables a fully monolithic solution of the linear free-surface flow, described by linear potential flow, coupled with floating thin structures, described by the Euler-Bernoulli beam or Poisson-Kirchhoff plate equations. The formulation presented in this work is general in the sense that solutions can be found in the frequency and time domains, it overcomes the need of using elements with C1 continuity by employing a continuous/discontinuous Galerkin (C/DG) approach, and it is suitable for Finite Elements of arbitrary order. We show that the proposed approach can accurately describe the hydroelastic phenomena of VLFS with a variety of tests, including structures with elastic joints, variable bathymetry and arbitrary structural shapes.