Abstract
We present a theoretical model of the hydrodynamic behaviour of a floating flexible plate of variable flexural rigidity connected to the seabed by a spring/damper system. Decomposition of the response modes into rigid and bending elastic components allows us to investigate the hydroelastic behaviour of the plate subject to monochromatic incident free-surface waves. We show that spatially dependent plate stiffness affects the eigenfrequencies and modal shapes, with direct consequences on plate dynamics and wave power extraction efficiency.