• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.263-277
• /
• 2023

Free vibration analysis of multi-directional porous functionally graded (FG) sandwich plate has been performed for two cases namely: FG skin with homogeneous core and FG core with homogeneous skin. Hamilton's principle was employed and the solution was obtained using Navier's technique. This theory imposes traction-free boundary conditions on the surfaces and does not require shear correction factors. The results obtained are validated with those available in the literature. The composition of metal-ceramic-based functionally graded material (FGM) changes in longitudinal and transverse directions according to the power law. Imperfections in the functionally graded material introduced during the fabrication process were modeled with different porosity laws such as evenly, unevenly distributed, and logarithmic uneven distributions. The effect of porosity laws and geometry parameters on the natural frequency was investigated. On comparing the natural frequency of two cases for perfect and imperfect sandwich plates a reverse trend in natural frequency result was seen. The finding shows a multidirectional functionally graded structures perform better compared to uni-directional gradation. Hence, critical grading parameters and imperfection types have been identified which will guide experimentalists and researchers in selecting fabrication routes for improving the performance of such structures.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.213-226
• /
• 2020

The present study covenants with the static and free vibration behavior of nanocomposite sandwich plates reinforced by carbon nanotubes resting on Pasternak elastic foundation. Uniformly distributed (UD-CNT) and functionally graded (FG-CNT) distributions of aligned carbon nanotube are considered for two types of sandwich plates such as, the face sheet reinforced and homogeneous core and the homogeneous face sheet and reinforced core. Based on the first shear deformation theory (FSDT), the Hamilton's principle is employed to derive the mathematical models. The obtained solutions are numerically validated by comparison with some available cases in the literature. The elastic foundation model is assumed as one parameter Winkler - Pasternak foundation. A parametric study is conducted to study the effects of aspect ratios, foundation parameters, carbon nanotube volume fraction, types of reinforcement, core-to-face sheet thickness ratio and types of loads acting on the bending and free vibration analyses. It is explicitly shown that the (FG-CNT) face sheet reinforced sandwich plate has a high resistance against deflections compared to other types of reinforcement. It is also revealed that the reduction in the dimensionless natural frequency is most pronounced in core reinforced sandwich plate.

• Advances in nano research
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.109-123
• /
• 2019

In this article, the free vibration analysis of annular sandwich plates with various functionally graded (FG) porous cores and carbon nanotubes reinforced composite (CNTRC) facesheets is investigated based on modified couple stress theory (MCST) and first order shear deformation theories (FSDT). The annular sandwich plate is composed of two face layers and a functionally graded porous core layer which contains different porosity distributions. Various approaches such as extended mixture rule (EMR), Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka (E-M-T), and Halpin-Tsai (H-T) are used to determine the effective material properties of microcomposite circular sandwich plate. The governing equations of motion are extracted by using Hamilton's principle and FSDT. A Ritz method has been utilized to calculate the natural frequency of an annular sandwich plate. The effects of material length scale parameters, boundary conditions, aspect and inner-outer radius ratios, FG porous distributions, pore compressibility and volume fractions of CNTs are considered. The results are obtained by Ritz solutions that can be served as benchmark data to validate their numerical and analytical methods in the future work and also in solid-state physics, materials science, and micro-electro-mechanical devices.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.711-726
• /
• 2017

In the present work, by considering the agglomeration effect of single-walled carbon nanotubes, free vibration characteristics of functionally graded (FG) nanocomposite sandwich plates resting on Pasternak foundation are presented. The volume fractions of randomly oriented agglomerated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction. To determine the effect of CNT agglomeration on the elastic properties of CNT-reinforced composites, a two-parameter micromechanical model of agglomeration is employed. In this research work, an equivalent continuum model based on the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka approach is employed to estimate the effective constitutive law of the elastic isotropic medium (matrix) with oriented straight CNTs. The 2-D generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM) as an efficient and accurate numerical tool is used to discretize the equations of motion and to implement the various boundary conditions. The proposed rectangular plates have two opposite edges simply supported, while all possible combinations of free, simply supported and clamped boundary conditions are applied to the other two edges. The benefit of using the considered power-law distribution is to illustrate and present useful results arising from symmetric and asymmetric profiles. The effects of two-parameter elastic foundation modulus, geometrical and material parameters together with the boundary conditions on the frequency parameters of the laminated FG nanocomposite plates are investigated. It is shown that the natural frequencies of structure are seriously affected by the influence of CNTs agglomeration. This study serves as a benchmark for assessing the validity of numerical methods or two-dimensional theories used to analysis of laminated plates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.649-662
• /
• 2018

In this study, based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity, free vibration characteristics of sandwich sectorial plates with multiwalled carbon nanotube-(MWCNT)-reinforced composite core are considered. Modified Halpin-Tsai equation is used to evaluate the Young's modulus of the MWCNT/epoxy composite samples by the incorporation of an orientation as well as an exponential shape factor in the equation. The exponential shape factor modifies the Halpin-Tsai equation from expressing a straight line to a nonlinear one in the MWCNTs wt% range considered. In this paper, free vibration of thick functionally graded sandwich annular sectorial plates with simply supported radial edges and different circular edge conditions including simply supported-clamped, clamped-clamped, and free-clamped is investigated. A semi-analytical approach composed of two-dimensional differential quadrature method and series solution are adopted to solve the equations of motion. The material properties change continuously through the core thickness of the plate, which can vary according to a power-law, exponentially, or any other formulations in this direction. This study serves as a benchmark for assessing the validity of numerical methods or two-dimensional theories used to analysis of laminated sectorial plates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.557-572
• /
• 2018

In this paper, a refined higher-order shear deformation theory including the stretching effect is developed for the analysis of bending analysis of the simply supported functionally graded (FG) sandwich plates resting on elastic foundation. This theory has only five unknowns, which is even less than the other shear and normal deformation theories. The theory presented is variationally consistent, without the shear correction factor. The present one has a new displacement field which introduces undetermined integral variables. Equations of motion are obtained by utilizing the Hamilton's principles and solved via Navier's procedure. The convergence and the validation of the proposed theoretical numerical model are performed to demonstrate the efficacy of the model.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.37 no.6
• /
• pp.711-731
• /
• 2020

This paper deals with free vibration of FG sandwich annular sector plates on Pasternak elastic foundation with different boundary conditions, based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The plates with simply supported radial edges and arbitrary boundary conditions on their circular edges are considered. The influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) waviness, aspect ratio, internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) on the vibrational behavior of functionally graded nanocomposite sandwich plates is investigated in this research work. The distributions of CNTs are considered functionally graded (FG) or uniform along the thickness of upper and bottom layers of the sandwich sectorial plates and their mechanical properties are estimated by an extended rule of mixture. In this study, the classical theory concerning the mechanical efficiency of a matrix embedding finite length fibers has been modified by introducing the tube-to-tube random contact, which explicitly accounts for the progressive reduction of the tubes' effective aspect ratio as the filler content increases. The core of structure is porous and the internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) are distributed in the matrix of core either uniformly or non-uniformly according to three different patterns. The elastic properties of the nanocomposite are obtained by employing Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model. A semi-analytic approach composed of 2D-Generalized Differential Quadrature Method (2D-GDQM) and series solution is adopted to solve the equations of motion. The fast rate of convergence and accuracy of the method are investigated through the different solved examples. Some new results for the natural frequencies of the plate are prepared, which include the effects of elastic coefficients of foundation, boundary conditions, material and geometrical parameters. The new results can be used as benchmark solutions for future researches.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.43 no.5
• /
• pp.639-660
• /
• 2022

The bending and buckling behaviours of FG-GRNC laminated sandwich plates are investigated by using novel five-variables quasi 3D higher order shear deformation plate theory by considering the modified continuum nonlocal strain gradient theory. To calculate the effective Young's modulus of the GRNC sandwich plate along the thickness direction, and Poisson's ratio and mass density, the modified Halpin-Tsai model and the rule of the mixture are employed. Based on a new field of displacement, governing equilibrium equations of the GRNC sandwich plate are solved using a developed approach of Galerkin method. A detailed parametric analysis is carried out to highlight the influences of length scale and material scale parameters, GPLs distribution pattern, the weight fraction of GPLs, geometry and size of GPLs, the geometry of the sandwich plate and the total number of layers on the stresses, deformation and critical buckling loads. Some details are studied exclusively for the first time, such as stresses and the nonlocality effect.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.197-218
• /
• 2020

In this work, thermomechanical flexural analysis of functionally graded material sandwich plates with P-FGM face sheets and E-FGM and symmetric S-FGM core is performed by employing a nth-order shear deformation theory. A novel type of S-FGM sandwich plates, namely, both P-FGM face sheets and a symmetric S-FGM hard core are considered. By employing only four unknown variables, the governing equations are obtained based on the principle of virtual work and then Navier method is used to solve these equations. Analytical solutions are deduced to compute the stresses and deflections of simply supported S-FGM sandwich plates. The effects of volume fraction variation, geometrical parameters and thermal load on thermomechanical flexural behavior of the symmetric FGM sandwich plates are investigated.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.457-469
• /
• 2019

In this paper, a numerical solution is presented for supersonic flutter analysis of cantilever non-symmetric functionally graded (FG) sandwich plates. The plate is considered to be composed of two different functionally graded face sheets and an isotropic homogeneous core made of ceramic. Based on the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and linear piston theory, the set of governing equations and boundary conditions are derived. Dimensionless form of the governing equations and boundary conditions are derived and solved numerically using generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM) and critical velocity and flutter frequencies are calculated. For various values of the yaw angle, effect of different parameters like aspect ratio, thickness of the plate, power law indices and thickness of the core on the flutter boundaries are investigated. Numerical examples show that wings and tail fins with larger length and shorter width are more stable in supersonic flights. It is concluded for FG sandwich plates made of Al-Al₂O₃ that increase in volume fraction of ceramic (Al₂O₃) increases aeroelastic stability of the plate. Presented study confirms that improvement of aeroelastic behavior and weight of wings and tail fins of aircrafts are not consistent items. It is shown that value of the critical yaw angle depends on aspect ratio of the plate and other parameters including thickness and variation of properties have no considerable effect on it. Results of this paper can be used in design and analysis of wing and tail fin of supersonic airplanes.