ABSTRACT
A linearized analysis of the motions of a very large floating mat-like structure for the use as an airport is presented. The analysis follows from the assumption of small amplitude incident waves and, hence, small resulting deformations. A panel method based on an extension of Frank’s method is used to analyze the hydrodynamic aspects and orthotropic plate theory is used to deal with the structural aspects. The consequences of these motions based on the results obtained for typical airport dimensions and varying structural characteristics are presented.
