FEM-BEM analysis of acoustic interaction with submerged thin-shell structures under seabed reflection conditions

The paper introduces a novel method for simulating acoustic–shell interaction subject to seabed reflection. The vibration of thin-shell structure is analyzed using the finite element method (FEM) with Kirchhoff–Love shell elements. Exterior acoustic fields associated with seabed reflection is simulated by the boundary element method (BEM) with half-space fundamental solutions. Then the FEM and BEM are coupled to simulate interaction between acoustics wave and shell vibration in the context of isogeometric analysis. Finally, fast multipole method is formulated for the coupled system to accelerate computation and reduce memory storage. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the accuracy of the algorithm. • Analyzing acoustic–shell interaction by considering seabed reflection. • Coupling FEM and BEM based on half-space fundamental solutions. • Accelerating acoustic computation with fast multipole methods.