Abstract

A finite element method to approximate the vibration modes of a plate in contact with an incompressible fluid is analysed in this paper. The effect of the fluid is taken into account by means of an added mass formulation, discretized by standard piecewise linear tetrahedral finite elements. Gravity waves on the free surface of the liquid are considered in the model. The plate is modelled by Reissner-Mindlin equations discretized by MITC3 locking-free elements. Implementation issues are discussed and numerical experiments are presented. In particular, the method is compared with analytical approximations and with an experimental study which has been recently reported. © 2002 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.