Structural and Acoustic Responses of a Submerged Stiffened Conical Shell

This paper studies the vibrational behavior and far-field sound radiation of a submerged stiffened conical shell at low frequencies. The solution for the dynamic response of the conical shell is presented in the form of a power series. A smeared approach is used to model the ring stiffeners. Fluid loading is taken into account by dividing the conical shell into narrow strips which are considered to be local cylindrical shells. The far-field sound pressure is solved by the Element Radiation Superposition Method. Excitations in two directions are considered to simulate the loading on the surface of the conical shell. These excitations are applied along the generator and normal to the surface of the conical shell. The contributions from the individual circumferential modes on the structural responses of the conical shell are studied. The effects of the external fluid loading and stiffeners are discussed. The results from the analytical models are validated by numerical results from a fully coupled finite element/boundary element model.