The radiation by a submerged fluid-filled cylindrical shell in response to a transient external pressure pulse is considered, and a semi-analytical model based on the Reissner–Mindlin shell theory is employed to simulate the interaction numerically. Two types of radiated waves that have been previously seen in experimental images for a submerged evacuated cylindrical shell are observed in both the external and internal fluids, the symmetric Lamb waves S0 and the antisymmetric Lamb (or pseudo-Rayleigh) waves A0. The third type of radiated waves is also observed that has not been explicitly imaged either experimentally or numerically for a submerged evacuated cylindrical shell, and it is demonstrated that these waves are the Scholte–Stoneley waves A. The effect that the complex structure of the radiated field has on the wave phenomena in the internal fluid is analyzed for shells of several different thicknesses, and the results of this analysis are summarized in the form of diagrams suitable for the use at the pre-design stage.

We present a semi-analytical approach, based on the Reissner-Mindlin shell theory, for the numerical analysis of the interaction between elastic circular cylindrical shell structures and external acoustic pulses or weak shock waves. We discuss the advantages and limitations of the approach over alternative methodologies and provide numerical results for the case of a submerged fluid-filled shell.

We consider a submerged fluid-filled cylindrical shell subjected to an external acoustic pulse and analyze the structure of the field radiated by the shell into the fluids, both external and internal. We first propose a computationally efficient semi-analytical model of the interaction based on the Reissner-Mindlin shell theory combining some of the classical methods of mathematical physics with the finite-difference methodology, and then use the model to simulate the interaction. We demonstrate that the model accurately reproduces the wave structure of the radiated fields seen in the experiments for submerged evacuated shells, namely, both the symmetric Lamb waves S0 and the pseudo-Rayleigh waves A0. It is further observed that the internal and external wave patterns associated with the A0 waves exhibit the same alternation of the equiphase lines as the one seen in the experiments for a plate loaded by the fluid on both sides, a result that seems to be particularly relevant in the context of very limited number of experimental images of the radiated field for shells loaded by fluid from both inside and outside. Not less interestingly, we also demonstrate that the Scholte-Stoneley, or A, wave is also reproduced by the model, and we offer some insights into the non-observability of this wave for certain types of cylindrical shells reported in earlier experimental studies.