Hydroelastic wake on a thin elastic sheet floating on water

Abstract

We investigate the hydroelastic wake created by a perturbation moving at constant speed along a thin elastic sheet floating at the surface of deep water. Using a high-resolution cross-correlation imaging technique, we characterize the waves as a function of the perturbation speed, for different sheet thicknesses. The general theoretical expression for the dispersion relation of hydroelastic waves includes three components: gravity, bending and stretching. The bending modulus and the tension in the sheet are independently measured. Excellent agreement is found between the experimental data and the theoretical expression.