Journal of Sound and Vibration (1995) 186(4), 543–550

RAYLEIGH–RITZ METHOD IN COUPLED

FLUID–STRUCTURE INTERACTING SYSTEMS
AND ITS APPLICATIONS
F. Z†
Department of Hydroelectric Power Engineering, Wuhan University of Hydraulic
and Electric Engineering, Wuhan 430072, People’s Republic of China

(Received 17 November 1992, and in final form 14 June 1994)

Based upon general thin shell theory and basic equations in fluid mechanics, the
Rayleigh–Ritz method for coupled fluid–structure free vibrations is developed for arbitrary
tanks fully or partially filled with inviscid, irrotational and compressible or incompressible
fluid, by means of the generalized orthogonality relations of wet modes and the associated
Rayleigh quotients. It is pointed out that the natural frequencies of the coupled vibrations
may be approximated by a linear combination of a series of trial functions which satisfy
the boundary conditions of the problems. Equations for calculating the eigenvalues and
eigenvectors are presented. An example concerning application of the Rayleigh–Ritz
method to predicting the basic frequency of a fluid-filled circular cylindrical tank is
provided. Calculated numerical results show good agreement with others of available.
7 1995 Academic Press Limited

1. INTRODUCTION
Since Lord Rayleigh estimated the lowest natural frequency of a taut elastic string by
assuming a trial function, the well known Rayleigh quotient and Rayleigh trial function
method have long had widespread use, especially for calculating the fundamental
frequencies of beams and plates. Extension of Rayleigh’s method to fluid–structure
interacting problems, however, is a more recent thing. The author studied the problem and
presented three kinds of Rayleigh’s quotients for free vibrations of fluid–structure coupled
systems, obtained by the use of three kinds of generalized wet modes orthogonality
relationship [1]. Although Rayleigh’s method can be used to predict all natural frequencies
of a beam, a plate, a shell or a shell filled with liquid, it works well only for the
determination of the fundamental frequency. For higher frequencies even a small deviation
between the true and assumed mode shape can easily cause a large error in the calculated
result. In addition, for shells, Rayleigh’s method is not particularly useful even for
estimating the basic frequency because of the complexity of the modes. Thus, an extension
is necessary that may improve accuracy and this extension was provied by Ritz, whose
contribution was to allow estimated mode shapes to have more than one arbitrary
constant. Since then, Rayleigh–Ritz method has played a more and more important role
in solid mechanics for estimating natural frequencies. Unfortunately, such a valuable tool
has not yet been widely used for fluid–structure interacting systems.
The aim of the work reported here is to provide an extension of the Rayleigh–Rtiz
method to estimate natural frequencies of fluid–structure coupled vibrations of arbitrary

† Presently at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, U.S.A.
543
0022–460X/95/390543+08 $12.00/0 7 1995 Academic Press Limited
544 . 
tanks fully or partially filled with inviscid, irrotational and compressible or incompressible
fluid, by means of the generalized wet modes orthogonality relations [2] and the associated
Rayleigh quotients. It is pointed out that the natural frequencies of the coupled vibrations
may also be approximated by a linear combination of a series of trial functions that satisfy
the boundary conditions of the problem. Equations for calculating the eigenvalues and
eigenvectors are presented. An example application of the Rayleigh–Ritz method to
predicting the basic frequency of a fluid–filled circular cylindrical tank is provided.
Calculated numerical results show good agreement with others available.

2. ORTHOGONALITY OF WET MODES AND RAYLEIGH QUOTIENTS

In order to develop the Rayleigh–Ritz method for a fluid–structure system, the wet
modes orthogonality relations and the associated Rayleigh quotients should be first
introduced.
Following Love’s general thin shell equations [3] and linear potential flow theory, the
free vibrational equation for a tank containing liquid can be derived as [1]

N(u)=v 2rA1 A2 u+v 2r0 A1 A2 Fn, (1)

in which v is the frequency of the coupled system r̄, h, A1 , A2 and u are, respectively, the
mass density (r=r̄h), the thickness, the radii of the two principal curvatures and the
displacement vector of the middle surface of the tank, N is a partial differential operator
which is self-adjoint and positive definite under certain boundary condition [4]; r0 is the
mass density of the liquid (on the unwetted wall S0 , one may set r0=0 to represent zero
hydrodynamic load on the structure); F is the fluid deformation potential which must
satisfy the following equation and boundary conditions.
(a) In the fluid domain V,

−v 2c−2F
6 7
when the fluid is compressible
92F= . (2a, b)
0 when the fluid is incompressible

Here c is the sound velocity in liquid.

(b) On the liquid–structure interface S0 ,

1F/1n=u · n, (3)

where n denotes the unit vector normal to S0 .

(c) On the free surface of the liquid Sf , if the effect of the free surface wave is neglected,

F=0. (4a)
Otherwise the condition is

g 1F/1n=v 2F, (4b)

where g is the gravitational acceleration.

(d) On the base Sb , which is fixed,

1F/1n=0. (5)
 –    545
When an inviscid, irrotational and incompressible fluid is considered and the effect of
the free surface wave is neglected, the orthogonality relations are very simple [2]:

gg V
ui · N(uj ) dx1 dx2=0, (6a)

r
gg S 0+S0
ui · uj dS+r0
ggg V
9Fi · 9Fj dV=0. (6b)

Here dS=A1 A2 dx1 dx2 , dV=A1 A2 dx1 dx2 dx3 , V is the domain of the middle surface of
the tank and S0=V−S0 , which denotes the domain of the unwetted wall, ui and uj are two
different modes satisfying boundary conditions, while Fi and Fj are corresponding
deformation potentials. In this case, the Rayleigh quotient is given by [1]

R 2=
gg V
u · N(u) dx1 dx2
. (7)
r
gg V
u · u dS+r0
ggg V
9F · 9F dV

If the effect of the free surface wave is considered, the orthogonality relations may be
expressed as

gg gg
1Fi 1Fj
ui · N(uj ) dx1 dx2+r0 g · dS=0, (8a)
V Sf
1n 1n

r
gg S 0+S0
ui · uj dS+r0
ggg V
9Fi · 9Fj dV=0. (8b)

The corresponding Rayleigh quotient is

gg gg
1F 1F
u · N(u) dx1 dx2+r0 g · dS
V Sf
1n 1n
R 2= . (9)
r
gg V
u · u dS+r0
ggg V
9F · 9F dV

When the liquid is compressible and the effect of the free surface wave is considered,
the generalized orthgonality relations have the most complex form:

gg gg ggg
1Fi 1Fj
ui · N(uj ) dx1 dx2+r0 g · dS+ṙ0 c 2 92Fi 92Fj dV=0, (10a)
V Sf
1n 1n V

r
gg S 0+S0
ui · uj dS+r0
ggg V
9Fi · 9Fj dV=0. (10b)
546 . 
In this case, the Rayleigh quotient becomes

gg gg ggg
1F 1F
u · N(u) dx1 dx2+r0 g · dS+r0 c 2 92F · 92F dV
V Sf
1n 1n V
R 2= . (11)
r
gg V
u · u dS+r0
ggg V
9F · 9F dV

In reference [1] it was demonstrated that, when a suitable displacement function satisfying
boundary conditions is substituted into one of the above Rayleigh quotients, an approx-
imate fundamental frequency of the coupled system may be obtained, which is greater than
or equal to the true natural fundamental frequency of the system. If the trial function is just
the mode shape, then the exact natural basic frequency of the system can be obtained. The
mode shape, however, is not easily found, and a slight deviation between the trial function
and mode shape may cause a great difference between the approximate and true frequency.
Moreover, Rayleigh’s method is not particularly useful in predicting higher frequencies of
the system. Thus an improved method, i.e. a Rayleigh–Ritz method, needs to be developed,
which is the main subject of the present paper and will be described in the following section.

3. RAYLEIGH–RITZ METHOD IN COUPLED FREE VIBRATIONS

In this section, the desired Rayleigh–Ritz method is to be developed. The fluid mdoel
taken here is a compressible one and the effect of the free surface wave is considered. Thus,
the orthogonality relations (10a) and (10b) and the Rayleigh quotient (11) are to be used.
Supposing that fi (i=1, 2,..., n) are functions that satisfy the boundary conditions of the
problem and that the unknown eigenvector may be approximated by a linear combination
of fi ,
u=C1 f1+C2 f2+· · ·+Cn fn , (12)
which implies that the actual problem is being approximated by a hypothetical system with
n degrees of freedom. n eigenvalues R12 , R22 ,..., Rn2 may therefore be obtained for such a
system, which may be some sort of appproximations to the eigenvalues v12 , v22 ,..., vn2
of the actual system. Corresponding to the n eigenvalues, there exist n eigenvectors,
u(m)=C1(m)f1+C2(m)f2+· · ·+Cn(m)fn , m=1, 2,..., n, (13a)
which must be subject to the orthogonality requirements of equations (10a) and (10b).
The associated fluid potential may be determined through equation (13a) and equation (3),
and expressed as
F (m)=C1(m)f
 1+C2(m)f
 2+· · ·+Cn(m)f
n , m=1, 2,..., n. (13b)
The eigenvalues and parameters C (m) of the system can be obtained by extremizing Rayleigh
quotient (11). For this purpose, substituting equation (12) into equation (11) and
supposing that the kth eigenvalues is to be looked for, one obtains

6gg 0 1 gg 6 76 7
n n n
1f
i n
1f
j
Rk2= s Ci fi N s Cj fj dx1 dx2+r0 g s Ci s Cj dS
V i=1 j=1 Sf i=1
1n j=1
1n

ggg 6 76 7 7>6 gg
n n n n
+r0 c 2 s Ci 92f
i s Cj 92f
 j dV r s Ci fi s Cj fj dS
V i=1 j=1 S 0+S0 i=1 j=1

ggg 7
n n
+r0 s Ci 9f
 i · s Cj 9f
 j dV . (14)
V i=1 j=1
 –    547
Doing some operations in equation (14) gives

>
n n n n
Rk2= s s Ci Cj Gij s s Ci Cj Eij , (15)
i=1 j=1 i=1 j=1

where

gg gg ggg
1f
 i 1f

Gij= fi N(fj ) dx1 dx2+r0 g · j dS+r0 c 2 92f
 i · 92f
 j dV, (16a)
V Sf
1n 1n V

Eij=r
gg S 0+S0
fi fj dS+r0
ggg V
9f
 i · 9f
 j dV. (16b)

In addition, one has the following orthogonality relation:

gg ggg
n n
r um s Ci fi dS+r0 9F m · 9 s Ci f
 i dV=0, m=1, 2,..., k−1. (17)
S 0+S0 i=1 V i=1

Substituting equations (13a) and (13b) into equation (17) and doing some appropriate
operations yields
n n
s s Cj(m)Ci Eij=0, m=1, 2,..., k−1. (18)
j=1 i=1

These k−1 equations are constraining equations for the extremization process and so one
extremizes the function Rk2* given by
n n
s s Ci Cj Gij
i=1 j=1 k−1 n n
Rk2*= − s l (m) s s Cj(m)Ci Eij , (19)
n n m=1 j=1 i=1
s s Ci Cj Eij
i=1 j=1

where l (m) are Lagrange multipliers. Now extremizing Rk2* gives

1Rk2* /1Ci=0, i=1, 2,..., n,
and therefore

0 10 1
n n n n
2 s Cj Gij s s Ci Cj Gij 2 s Cj Eij
j=1 i=1 j=1 j=1 k−1 n
− − s l (m) s Cj(m)Eij=0,

0 1
n n n n 2 m=1 j=1
s s Ci Cj Eij s s Ci Cj Eij
i=1 j=1 i=1 j=1

i=1, 2,..., n. (20)

Next one multiplies through by 12 snj=1 sni=1 Cj Ci Eij to obtain

60 10 1> 7
n n n n n n
s Cj Gij− s s Ci Cj Gij s Cj Eij s s Ci Cj Eij
j=1 i=1 j=1 j=1 i=1 j=1

0 10 1
k−1 n n n
− s l (m) s Cj(m)Eij 1
2 s s Cl Cs Elg =0, i=1, 2,..., n.
m=1 j=1 l=1 g=1
548 . 
Note that the dummy indices in the last term have been changed for convenience. Using
equation (15) to bring Rk2 into the second expression of this equation gives

0 10 1
n n k−1 n n n
s Cj Gij−Rk2 s Cj Eij−12 s l (m) s Cj(m)Eij s s Cl Cs Elg =0,
j=1 j=1 m=1 j=1 l=1 g=1

i=1, 2,..., n. (21)

Letting (k−1) Lagrange multipliers be zero and one finally arrives at
n
s (Gij−Rk2 Eij )Cj=0, i=1, 2,..., n. (22)
j=1

Considering the C’s as unknown one then has n simultaneous homogeneous equations for
the unknowns. For a non-trivial solution it is necessary that the determinant of the C’s
be zero. Thus, with the subscript k dropped,
=Gij−R 2Eij ==0, (23)
2 2 2 2
from which n roots for R that may be ordered in magnitude as R , R ,..., R may 1 2 n
be obtained. Thus, no matter what k is for the problem (if it is no greater than n) one
finally arrives at equation (23) to be solved. What one obtains from equation (23) (n roots
for R 2 ) are actually n approximations of the natural frequencies of the actual coupled
system. Each of the roots, Ri2 for example, is little greater than or equal to the ith frequency
vi2 and less than the (i+1)th frequency vi+1 2
of the system; that is,
vi2ERi2Qvi+1
2
, (24)
which can be proved in the same well known manner as in solid mechanics; therefore the
procedure for this is not provided herein, for simplification.

4. APPLICATION
Now consider an axisymmetric free vibration of a circular cylindrical tank partially filled
with incompressible liquid. Such a coupled vibration model has been thorougly investi-
gated in reference [5] through an analytical method and used as an example in reference
[1] to study the Rayleigh method for fluid–structure coupled vibrations. In this section, it
will be employed as an example application of the Rayleigh–Ritz method to coupled
problems.
The non-dimensional equation of motion of the tank derived by Kondo is listed as
follows for completeness [5]:
(1−m 2+s 2 d4/dz 4 )w=r̄v 2w+r̄0 v 2F. (25)
Here
r̄=(1−m 2 )a 2r/E, s 2=h 2/(12a 2 ),

(1−m 2 )a 3r0 /(Eh),

6 7
0QzQd
r̄0= ,
0, dQzQl
w denotes the radial component of displacement, a the radius, r is the mass density of
the side wall, E is Young’s modulus, m is the Poisson ratio, z is the axial co-ordinate,
r0 is the density of the liquid and F is the deformation potential of the fluid. The length
of the tank is =al,
l while the depth of the liquid is 
d=ad. The boundary conditions of
the side wall are assumed to be ‘‘freely supported at both ends’’ [5]: i.e.,
at z=0, l, w=0, 1 2w/1z 2=0. (26)
 –    549
Suppose that the fluid is inviscid, irrotational and incompressible. Then the displacement
potential must satisfy Laplace’s equation
92F=0. (27)
The boundary conditions are as follows:
at z=0, 1F/1z=0; (28)
at z=d, F=0 (the effect of the free surface wave is ignored); (29)
at h=1 (h is the non-dimensional radial co-ordinate) 1F/1h=w. (30)
According to equation (7), the Rayleigh quotient for this case is

g
l

w(1−m 2+s 2 d4/dz 4 )w dz

0
R 2= . (31)

g gg
l d 1

r̄ 2
w dz+r̄0 9F · 9F dh dz
0 0 0

The unknown function w is approximated by the linear combination of two sine functions:
w=C1 sin (pz/l)+C2 sin (2pz/l). (32)
In this case, F may be approximated by

a
I0 (lm h)
F= s Am cos (lm z), (33)
m=1
I0 (lm )

where I0 is the modified Bessel function of the first kind of order zero and
lm=(2m−1)p/(2d). Obviously, expression (32) satisfies the boundary conditions (26), and
expression (33) satisfies those in equation (28) and (29). The requirement of equation (30)
enables one to formulate Am as

g
d
2I0 (lm )
Am= (C1 sin (pz/l)+C2 sin (2pz/l)) cos (lm z) dz, (34)
dlm I'0 (lm ) 0

Where I'0 denotes the first derivative of I0 with respect to its argument.
Equations (32) and (33) indicate that one has used the expressions
f1=sin (pz/l), f2=sin (2pz/l), (35a, b)

g
a
2I0 (lm h)
d

f
 1= s sin (pz/l) cos (lm z) dz cos (lm z), (36a)
m=1
dl m I'0 (lm )
0

g
a
2I0 (lm h)
d

f
 2= s sin (2pz/l) cos (lm z) dz cos (lm z). (36b)
m=1
dlm I'0 (lm ) 0

Substitution of equations (35) and (36) into equations (16a) and (16b) gives the elements
of matrices Gij and Eij , i, j=1, 2. Note that only the first term on the right side of equation
(16a) is taken into account because of the fact that the liquid here is incompressible and
the effect of the free surface wave is neglected. The two eigenvalues, which are approximate
550 . 
values of the first two lowest natural frequencies of the coupled system, may be obtained
from equation (23).
For numerical calculation, the tank was supposed to be made of steel and the liquid to
be water. The radius of the tank (a) is 25 m, the length of the tank (l) is 30 m, the thickness
) is 21·6 m. The two eigenvalues
of the side wall (h) is 3 cm, and the depth of the liquid (d
obtained from equation (23) are R1=24·06 (rad/s) and R2=69·38 (rad/s). The first two
lowest frequencies presented in reference [5] are v1=22·3 (rad/s) and v2=44·12 (rad/s),
while the lowest frequency obtained by the Rayleigh method [1] is v=26·6 (rad/s).
Thus, one can see that the present method can provide a much better approximation
to the fundamental frequency of the coupled system than does the Rayleigh method [1].
Moreover, better results could be expected if more than two terms in equation (33) were
used.

5. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the Rayleigh–Ritz method has been developed for fluid–structure
interaction problems by means of the generalized wet modes orthogonality relations and
the associated Rayleigh’s quotients. It has been pointed out that the natural frequencies
of the coupled vibrations may be approximated by a linear combination of a series of trial
functions which satisfy the boundary conditions of the problem. Equations for calculating
the eigenvalues and eigenvectors have been presented. An example application of the
Rayleigh–Ritz method to predicting the basic frequency of a fluid–filled circular cylindrical
tank has been provided. Calculated numerical results show good agreement with those
available.

REFERENCES
1. F. Z 1994 Journal of Sound and Vibration 171, 641–649. Rayleigh quotients for coupled
vibrations.
2. F. Z 1991 Journal of Sound and Vibration 146, 439–448. Orthogonality of wet modes in
coupled vibration.
3. W. S 1981 Vibrations of Shells and Plates. New York: Marcel Dekker.
4. F. Z 1994 Chinese Journal of Applied Mechanics. Sufficient and necessary conditions for the
symmetry and positive definiteness of the thin shell operator.
5. H. K 1981 Bulletin of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers 24, 215–221. Axisymmetric
free vibration analysis of a circular cylindrical tank.