• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.1493-1515
• /
• 2015

A new refined hyperbolic shear deformation theory (RHSDT), which involves only four unknown functions as against five in case of other shear deformation theories, is presented for the thermoelastic bending analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates. Unlike any other theory, the number of unknown functions involved is only four, as against five in case of other shear deformation theories. The theory presented is variationally consistent, does not require shear correction factor, and gives rise to transverse shear stress variation such that the transverse shear stresses vary parabolically across the thickness satisfying shear stress free surface conditions. The sandwich plate faces are assumed to have isotropic, two-constituent material distribution through the thickness, and the modulus of elasticity, Poisson's ratio of the faces, and thermal expansion coefficients are assumed to vary according to a power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The core layer is still homogeneous and made of an isotropic ceramic material. Several kinds of sandwich plates are used taking into account the symmetry of the plate and the thickness of each layer. The influences played by the transverse shear deformation, thermal load, plate aspect ratio and volume fraction distribution are studied. Numerical results for deflections and stresses of functionally graded metal-ceramic plates are investigated. It can be concluded that the proposed theory is accurate and simple in solving the thermoelastic bending behavior of functionally graded plates.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.113-148
• /
• 2016

In a whole variety of higher order plate theories existing in the literature no consideration is given to the transverse normal strain / deformation effects on flexural response when these higher order theories are applied to shear flexible composite plates in view of minimizing the number of unknown variables. The objective of this study is to carry out cylindrical bending of simply supported laminated composite and sandwich plates using sinusoidal shear and normal deformation plate theory. The most important feature of the present theory is that it includes the effects of transverse normal strain/deformation. The displacement field of the presented theory is built upon classical plate theory and uses sine and cosine functions in terms of thickness coordinate to include the effects of shear deformation and transverse normal strain. The theory accounts for realistic variation of the transverse shear stress through the thickness and satisfies the shear stress free conditions at the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using the problem dependent shear correction factor. Governing equations and boundary conditions of the theory are obtained using the principle of minimum potential energy. The accuracy of the proposed theory is examined for several configurations of laminates under various static loadings. Some problems are presented for the first time in this paper which can become the base for future research. For the comparison purpose, the numerical results are also generated by using higher order shear deformation theory of Reddy, first-order shear deformation plate theory of Mindlin and classical plate theory. The numerical results show that the present theory provides displacements and stresses very accurately as compared to those obtained by using other theories.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.311-325
• /
• 2018

This article presents the bending analysis of FGM rectangular plates resting on non-uniform elastic foundations in thermal environment. Theoretical formulations are based on a recently developed refined shear deformation theory. The displacement field of the present theory is chosen based on nonlinear variations in the in-plane displacements through the thickness of the plate. The present theory satisfies the free transverse shear stress conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factor. Unlike the conventional trigonometric shear deformation theory, the present refined shear deformation theory contains only four unknowns as against five in case of other shear deformation theories. The material properties of the functionally graded plates are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness, according to a simple power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents. The elastic foundation is modeled as non-uniform foundation. The results of the shear deformation theories are compared together. Numerical examples cover the effects of the gradient index, plate aspect ratio, side-to-thickness ratio and elastic foundation parameters on the thermo-mechanical behavior of functionally graded plates. Numerical results show that the present theory can archive accuracy comparable to the existing higher order shear deformation theories that contain more number of unknowns.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.61 no.1
• /
• pp.49-63
• /
• 2017

This paper presents an original hyperbolic (first present model) and parabolic (second present model) shear and normal deformation theory for the bending analysis to account for the effect of thickness stretching in functionally graded sandwich plates. Indeed, the number of unknown functions involved in these presents theories is only five, as opposed to six or even greater numbers in the case of other shear and normal deformation theories. The present theory accounts for both shear deformation and thickness stretching effects by a hyperbolic variation of ail displacements across the thickness and satisfies the stress-free boundary conditions on the upper and lower surfaces of the plate without requiring any shear correction factor. It is evident from the present analyses; the thickness stretching effect is more pronounced for thick plates and it needs to be taken into consideration in more physically realistic simulations. The numerical results are compared with 3D exact solution, quasi-3-dimensional solutions and with other higher-order shear deformation theories, and the superiority of the present theory can be noticed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.861-876
• /
• 2015

Composite sections design consists on checking that the point defined by axial load and bending moment keeps included within the surface enclosed by the section interaction curve. Eurocode 4 suggests a method for tracing this diagram based on the plastic stress distribution method. However curves obtained according to this criterion overvalue concrete encased sections bearing capacity, especially when axial force comes with high bending moment values, so a correction factor is required. This article proposes a method for tracing this diagram based on the strain compatibility method. When stresses on the section are integrated by considering the Navier hypothesis, the use of the materials nonlinear constitutive equations provides curves much more adjusted to reality. This process requires the use of rather complex software which might reveal as too complex for practitioners. Preserving the same criteria of an elastic-plastic stress distribution, this article presents alternative expressions to obtain the failure internal forces in five significant points of the interaction diagram having considered five different positions of the neutral axis. These expressions are simply enough for their practical application. Concordance of curves traced strictly relying on these five points with those obtained by computer assisted stress integration considering the strain compatibility method and even with Eurocode 4 weighted curves will be presented for three different cross-sections and two different concrete strengths, revealing very good results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.41 no.5
• /
• pp.697-711
• /
• 2021

In this work, a simple quasi 3-D parabolic shear deformation theory is developed to examine the bending response of antisymmetric cross-ply laminated composite plates under different types of mechanical loading. The main feature of this theory is that, in addition to including the transverse shear deformation and thickness stretching effects, it has only five-unknown variables in the displacement field modeling like Mindlin's theory (FSDT), yet satisfies the zero shear stress conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without requiring a shear correction factor. The static version of principle of virtual work was employed to derive the governing equations, while the bending problem for simply supported antisymmetric cross-ply laminated plates was solved by a Navier-type closed-form solution procedure. The adequacy of the proposed model is handled by considering the impact of side-to-thickness ratio on bending response of plate through several illustrative examples. Comparison of the obtained numerical results with the other shear deformation theories leads to the conclusion that the present model is more accurate and efficient in predicting the displacements and stresses of laminated composite plates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.451-471
• /
• 2022

In the present paper, the static bending and buckling responses of functionally graded carbon nanotubes-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) beam under various boundary conditions are investigated within the framework of higher shear deformation theory. The significant feature of the proposed theory is that it provides an accurate parabolic distribution of transverse shear stress through the thickness satisfying the traction-free boundary conditions needless of any shear correction factor. Uniform (UD) and four graded distributions of CNTs which are FG-O, FG-X, FG- and FG-V are selected here for the analysis. The effective material properties of FG-CNTRC beams are estimated according to the rule of mixture. To model the FG-CNTRC beam realistically, an efficient Hermite-Lagrangian finite element formulation is successfully developed. The accuracy and efficiency of the present model are demonstrated by comparison with published benchmark results. Moreover, comprehensive numerical results are presented and discussed in detail to investigate the effects of CNTs volume fraction, distribution patterns of CNTs, boundary conditions, and length-to-thickness ratio on the bending and buckling responses of FG-CNTRC beam. Several new referential results are also reported for the first time which will serve as a benchmark for future studies in a similar direction. It is concluded that the FG-X-CNTRC beam is the strongest beam that carries the lowest central deflection and is followed by the UD, V, Λ, and FG-O-CNTRC beam. Besides, the critical buckling load belonging to the FG-X-CNTRC beam is the highest, followed by UD and FG-O.

• Advances in materials Research
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.155-177
• /
• 2019

In this paper, a new displacement based high-order shear deformation theory is introduced for the static response of functionally graded sandwich plate with new definition of porosity distribution taking into account composition and the scheme of the sandwich plate. Unlike any other theory, the number of unknown functions involved is only four, as against five in case of other shear deformation theories. The theory presented is variationally consistent, has strong similarity with classical plate theory in many aspects, does not require shear correction factor, and gives rise to transverse shear stress variation such that the transverse shear stresses vary parabolically across the thickness satisfying shear stress free surface conditions. Material properties of FGM layers are assumed to vary continuously across the plate thickness according to either power-law or sigmoid function in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The face layers are considered to be FG across each face thickness while the core is made of a ceramic homogeneous layer. Governing equations are derived from the principle of virtual displacements. The closed-form solution of a simply supported rectangular plate subjected to sinusoidal loading has been obtained by using the Navier method. Numerical results are presented to show the effect of the material distribution, the sandwich plate geometry and the porosity on the deflections and stresses of FG sandwich plates. The validity of the present theory is investigated by comparing some of the present results with other published results.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.269-282
• /
• 2018

In this paper, a new displacement field based on quasi-3D hybrid-type higher order shear deformation theory is developed to analyze the static and dynamic response of exponential (E), power-law (P) and sigmoïd (S) functionally graded beams. Novelty of this theory is that involve just three unknowns with including stretching effect, as opposed to four or even greater numbers in other shear and normal deformation theories. It also accounts for a parabolic distribution of the transverse shear stresses across the thickness, and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions at beams surfaces without introducing a shear correction factor. The beam governing equations and boundary conditions are determined by employing the Hamilton's principle. Navier-type analytical solutions of bending and free vibration analysis are provided for simply supported beams subjected to uniform distribution loads. The effect of the sigmoid, exponent and power-law volume fraction, the thickness stretching and the material length scale parameter on the deflection, stresses and natural frequencies are discussed in tabular and graphical forms. The obtained results are compared with previously published results to verify the performance of this theory. It was clearly shown that this theory is not only accurate and efficient but almost comparable to other higher order shear deformation theories that contain more number of unknowns.

• Coupled systems mechanics
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.237-264
• /
• 2020

This article investigates the static behaviour of functionally graded (FG) plates sometimes declared as advanced composite plates by using a simple and accurate quasi-3D and 2D hyperbolic higher-order shear deformation theories. The properties of functionally graded materials (FGMs) are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness direction according to exponential law distribution (E-FGM). The kinematics of the present theories is modeled with an undetermined integral component and satisfies the free transverse shear stress conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate; therefore, it does not require the shear correction factor. The fundamental governing differential equations and boundary conditions of exponentially graded plates are derived by employing the static version of principle of virtual work. Analytical solutions for bending of EG plates subjected to sinusoidal distributed load are obtained for simply supported boundary conditions using Navier'is solution procedure developed in the double Fourier trigonometric series. The results for the displacements and stresses of geometrically different EG plates are presented and compared with 3D exact solution and with other quasi-3D and 2D higher-order shear deformation theories to verify the accuracy of the present theory.