• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.84 no.6
• /
• pp.813-822
• /
• 2022

In this article, the buckling and free vibration of multi-directional FGM sandwich plates are investigated. The material properties of FGM sandwich plates are assumed to be varying continuously in the in the longitudinal, transverse and thickness directions. The material properties are evaluated based on Voigt's micro-mechanical model considering power law distribution method with arbitrary power index. Equations of motion for the buckling and vibration analysis of multi-directional FGM sandwich plate are obtained based on refined shear deformation theory. Analytical solution for simply supported multidirectional FGM sandwich plate is carried out using Navier's solution technique. The FGM sandwich plate considered in this work has a homogeneous ceramic core and two functionally graded face sheets. Influence of volume fraction index in the longitudinal, transverse and thickness direction, layer thickness, and geometrical parameter over natural frequency and critical buckling load of multi-directional FGM sandwich plate is investigated. The finding shows a multi-directional functionally graded structures perform better compared to uni-directional gradation. Hence, critical grading parameters have been identified which will guide researchers in selecting fabrication routes for improving the performance of such structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.32 no.5
• /
• pp.611-632
• /
• 2019

In this work, a four-variable refined plate model is applied to study the thermomechanical bending of two kinds of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates. The sandwich core of one kind is isotropic with the FGM face sheets whereas in the second kind, the sandwich core is FGM with the isotropic and homogeneous face sheets. By considering only four unknown variables, the governing equations are written based on the principle of virtual work and then Navier method is employed to solve these equations. Deflections and stresses of two kinds of FGM sandwich structures are analyzed and discussed. The validity and efficiency of the proposed model is checked by comparing it with various available solutions in the literature. The effects of volume fraction distribution, geometric ratio and thermal load on thermomechanical bending properties of FGM sandwich plate are investigated in detail.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.88 no.6
• /
• pp.551-567
• /
• 2023

In this work, the free vibration analysis of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates with porosity is conducted using the p-version of the finite element method (FEM), which is based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The sandwich plate consists of two face-sheet layers of FGM and a homogeneous core layer. The obtained results are validated using convergence and comparison studies with previously published results. Five porosities distribution models of FGM sandwich plates are assumed and analyzed. The effect of the thickness ratio, boundary conditions, volume fraction exponents, and porosity coefficients of the top and bottom layers of FGM sandwich plates on the natural frequency are addressed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.85 no.1
• /
• pp.1-14
• /
• 2023

The use of functionally graded materials in applications involving severe thermal gradients is quickly gaining acceptance in the composite mechanics community, the aerospace and aircraft industry. In the present study, a refined sandwich plate model is applied to study the free vibration analysis of porous functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates with various distribution rate of porosity. Two types of common FG sandwich plates are considered. The first sandwich plate is composed of two FG material (FGM) face sheets and a homogeneous ceramic or metal core. The second one consists of two homogeneous fully metal and ceramic face sheets at the top and bottom, respectively, and a FGM core. The displacement field of the present theory is chosen based on nonlinear variations in the in-plane displacements through the thickness of the sandwich plate. The number of unknowns and equations of motion of the present theory is reduced and hence makes them simple to use. In the analysis, the equation of motion for simply supported sandwich plates is obtained using Hamilton's principle. In order to present the effect of the variation of the porosity distribution on the dynamic behavior of the FGM sandwich plates, new mixtures are proposed which take into account different rate of porosity distribution between the ceramic and the metal. The present method is applicable to study the dynamic behavior of FGM plates and sandwich plates. The frequencies of two kinds of FGM sandwich structures are analyzed and discussed. Several numerical results have been compared with the ones available in the literature.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.103-115
• /
• 2018

In this work, a simple but accurate hyperbolic plate theory for the free vibration analysis of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates is developed. The significant feature of this formulation is that, in addition to including the shear deformation effect, it deals with only 3 unknowns as the classical plate theory (CPT), instead of 5 as in the well-known first shear deformation theory (FSDT) and higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). A shear correction factor is, therefore, not required. Two common types of FGM sandwich plates are considered, namely, the sandwich with the FGM face sheet and the homogeneous core and the sandwich with the homogeneous face sheet and the FGM core. The equation of motion for the FGM sandwich plates is obtained based on Hamilton's principle. The closed form solutions are obtained by using the Navier technique. The fundamental frequencies are found by solving the eigenvalue problems. Numerical results of the present theory are compared with the CPT, FSDT, order shear deformation theories (HSDTs), and 3D solutions. Verification studies show that the proposed theory is not only accurate and simple in solving the free vibration behaviour of FGM sandwich plates, but also comparable with the higher-order shear deformation theories which contain more number of unknowns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.805-822
• /
• 2019

In this work, a simple four-variable integral plate theory is employed for examining the thermal buckling properties of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates. The proposed kinematics considers integral terms which include the effect of transverse shear deformations. Material characteristics and thermal expansion coefficient of the ceramic-metal FGM sandwich plate faces are supposed to be graded in the thickness direction according to a "simple power-law" variation in terms of the "volume fractions" of the constituents. The central layer is always homogeneous and consists of an isotropic material. The thermal loads are supposed as uniform, linear, and nonlinear temperature rises within the thickness direction. The influences of geometric ratios, gradient index, loading type, and type sandwich plate on the buckling properties are examined and discussed in detail.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.87 no.1
• /
• pp.29-46
• /
• 2023

Critical thermal buckling of functionally graded porous (FGP) sandwich plates under various types of thermal loading is considered. It is assumed that the mechanical and thermal nonhomogeneous properties of FGP sandwich plate vary smoothly by distribution of power law across the thickness of sandwich plate. In this paper, porosity defects are modeled as stiffness reduction criteria and included in the rule of mixture. The thermal environments are considered as uniform, linear and nonlinear temperature rises. The critical buckling temperature response of FGM sandwich plates has been analyzed under various boundary conditions. By comparing several numerical examples with the reference solutions, the results indicate that the present analysis has good accuracy and rapid convergence. Further, the effects of various parameters like distribution shape of porosity, sandwich combinations, aspect ratio, thickness ratio, boundary conditions on critical buckling temperature of FGP sandwich plate have been studied in this paper.

• Advances in materials Research
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.313-335
• /
• 2019

The objective of the present paper is to investigate the bending and free vibration behavior of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich rectangular plates using an efficient and simple higher order shear deformation theory. Unlike other theories, there are only four unknown functions involved, as compared to five in other shear deformation theories. The most interesting feature of this theory is that it does not require the shear correction factor. Two common types of FGM sandwich plates are considered, namely, the sandwich with the FGM facesheet and the homogeneous core and the sandwich with the homogeneous facesheet and the FGM core. The equation of motion for the FGM sandwich plates is obtained based on Hamilton's principle. The closed form solutions are obtained by using the Navier technique. A static and free vibration frequency is given for different material properties. The accuracy of the present solutions is verified by comparing the obtained results with the existing solutions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.67 no.3
• /
• pp.219-232
• /
• 2018

This paper deals with the static bending of various types of FGM sandwich plates resting on two-parameter elastic foundations in hygrothermal environment. The elastic foundation is modeled as Pasternak's type, which can be either isotropic or orthotropic and as a special case, it converges to Winkler's foundation if the shear layer is neglected. The present FGM sandwich plate is assumed to be made of a fully ceramic core layer sandwiched by metal/ceramic FGM coats. The governing equations are derived from principle of virtual displacements based on a shear and normal deformations plate theory. The present theory takes into account both shear and normal strains effects, thus it predicts results more accurate than the shear deformation plate theories. The results obtained by the shear and normal deformation theory are compared with those available in the literature and also with those obtained by other shear deformation theories. It is concluded that the present results are slightly deviated from other results because the normal deformation effect is taken into account. Numerical results are presented to show the effects of the different parameters, such as side-to-thickness ratio, foundation parameters, aspect ratio, temperature, moisture, power law index and core thickness on the stresses and displacements of the FG sandwich plates.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.72 no.5
• /
• pp.653-673
• /
• 2019

This work investigates a novel quasi-3D hyperbolic shear deformation theory is presented to discuss the buckling of new type of sandwich plates. This theory accounts for both shear deformation and thickness stretching effects by a hyperbolic variation of all displacements through the thickness. The enhancement of this formulation is due to the use of only five unknowns by including undetermined integral terms, contrary to other theories where we find six or more unknowns. It does not require shear correction factors and transverse shear stresses vary parabolically across the thickness. A new type of FGM sandwich plates, namely, both FGM face sheets and FGM hard core are considered. The governing equations and boundary conditions are derived using the principle of virtual displacements. Analytical solutions are obtained for a simply supported plate. The accuracy of the present theory is verified by comparing the obtained results with quasi-3D solutions and those predicted by higher-order shear deformation theories. The comparison studies show that the obtained results are not only more accurate than those obtained by higher-order shear deformation theories, but also comparable with those predicted by quasi-3D theories with a greater number of unknowns.