A 3-D hydroelastic analysis in NASTRAN with general fluid and structure geometry

The implementation of a general three dimensional hydroelastic mode analysis capability in NASTRAN is presented. Finite elements with polyhedral shapes define the fluid; existing NASTRAN plate elements define the fluid/structure interface. Efficient solution methods were implemented to allow a separate structural matrix reduction and to allow connection of the fluid mass directly to a small set of grid points or modal coordinates representing the structure. Test case results for the various solution options are presented.