On the modelling of the dynamics of elastically deformable floating structures

In this paper we are reexamining the dynamic equations of an elastically deformable floating structure to identify and evaluate the contribution from the inertia cross coupling terms which commonly have been neglected due to the assumption of small structural deformation. Numerical experiments on two vessels, a flexible barge, and a full scale ultra large container vessel, are designed for revealing the magnitude of errors introduced into the numerical solutions when these inertia cross coupling terms have been ignored.

The results shows that in realistic conditions with strong structural dynamics, the errors are less than 1% for the flexible barge and less than 0.5% for the ultra large container vessel.