Hydroelastic wake on a thin elastic sheet floating on water

We investigate the hydroelastic waves 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 tension. The bending modulus and the tension in the sheet are independently measured. The experiments represent a direct test of the theory where all components, bending, stretching, and gravity, cannot be neglected. Excellent agreement is found between the experimental data and the theoretical expression.