A three dimensional semi-analytical model for the prediction of gate vibrations immersed in fluid

A model is developed to predict bending vibrations of flood gates with fluid on both sides. The liquid flow is three-dimensional and the gate is represented as a thin plate. The fluid response is considered within the linear potential flow theory including the effect of compressibility and the generation of free surface waves. This way, the hydrodynamic fluid pressure exerted on the gate is predicted accurately in both low and high-frequency regimes. Both the structural and fluid responses are expressed in the modal domain as a superposition of modes. A semi-analytical solution of the fluid-interaction problem is obtained by describing the complete system in terms of in vacuo gate modes, which is computationally efficient compared to existing numerical methods. This allows for the accurate prediction of flood gate vibrations for a large number of simulations, making it possible to perform fatigue calculations and probabilistic evaluations. The case of a typical flat flood gate subjected to an impulsive wave impact is studied with the developed model. Results show the capability of the model to efficiently quantify flood gate vibrations considering the involved fluid-structure interaction, which can lead to more economical designs compared to common engineering practice.