• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.221-245
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• 2013

This paper presents an analytical solution to the thermomechanical bending analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates by using a new hyperbolic shear deformation theory in which the stretching effect is included. The modulus of elasticity of plates is 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. The effects of functionally graded material (FGM) layer thickness, volume fraction index, layer thickness ratio, thickness ratio and aspect ratio on the deflections and stresses of functionally graded sandwich plates are investigated.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.473-495
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• 2016

This work presents a bending, buckling, and vibration analysis of functionally graded plates by employing a novel higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). This theory has only four unknowns, which is even less than the first shear deformation theory (FSDT). A shear correction coefficient is, thus, not needed. Unlike the conventional HSDT, 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.

• Advances in materials Research
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.81-92
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• 2016

Stress concentration is an interesting and essential field of study, as it is the prime cause of failure of structural parts under static load. In the current paper, stress and strain concentration factors in unidirectional functionally graded (UDFGM) plate with central circular cutout are predicted by carrying out a finite element study on ANSYS APDL platform. The present study aims to bridge the lacuna in the understandings of stress analysis in perforated functionally graded plates. It is found that the material variation parameter is an important criterion while designing a perforated UDFGM plate. By selecting a proper material variation parameter and direction of material gradation, the stress and strain concentrations can be significantly reduced.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.543-558
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• 2016

The response of functionally graded ceramic-metal plates is investigated using theoretical formulation, Navier's solutions, and a new displacement based on the high-order shear deformation theory are presented for static analysis of functionally graded plates. The theory accounts for a quadratic variation of the transverse shear strains across the thickness, and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factors. The plates are assumed to have isotropic, two-constituent material distribution through the thickness, and the modulus of elasticity of the plate is assumed to vary according to a power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. Numerical results of the new refined plate theory are presented to show the effect of the material distribution on the deflections, stresses and fundamental frequencies. It can be concluded that the proposed theory is accurate and simple in solving the static and free vibration behavior of functionally graded plates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.89-102
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• 2018

This work investigates a novel plate formulation and a modified couple stress theory that introduces a variable length scale parameter is presented to discuss the static and dynamic of functionally graded (FG) micro-plates. A new type of third-order shear deformation theory of Reddy that use only 4 unknowns by including undetermined integral variables is proposed in this study. The equations of motion are derived from Hamilton's principle. Analytical solutions are obtained for a simply supported micro-plate. Numerical examples are presented to examine the effect of the length scale parameter on the responses of micro-plates. The obtained results are compared with the previously published results to demonstrate the correctness of the present formulation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제56권1호
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• pp.85-106
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• 2015

Postbuckling of thick plates made of functionally graded material (FGM) subjected to in-plane compressive, thermal and thermomechanical loads is investigated in this work. It is assumed that the plate is in contact with a Pasternak-type elastic foundation during deformation. Thermomechanical non-homogeneous properties are considered to be temperature independent, and graded smoothly by the distribution of power law across the thickness in the thickness in terms of the volume fractions of constituents. By employing the higher order shear deformation plate theory together the non-linear von-Karman strain-displacement relations, the equilibrium and compatibility equations of imperfect FGM plates are derived. The Galerkin technique is used to determine the buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths for simply supported plates. Numerical examples are presented to show the influences of power law index, foundation stiffness and imperfection on the buckling and postbuckling loading capacity of the plates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.123-136
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• 2016

This work focuses on the behavior of the static analysis of functionally graded plates materials (FGMs) with porosities that may possibly occur inside the functionally graded materials (FGMs) during their fabrication. For this purpose a new refined plate theory is used in this work, it contains only four unknowns, unlike five unknowns for other theories. This new model meets the nullity of the transverse shear stress at the upper and lower surfaces of the plate. The parabolic distribution of transverse shear stresses along the thickness of the plate is taken into account in this analysis; the material properties of the FGM plate vary a power law distribution in terms of volume fraction of the constituents. The rule of mixture is modified to describe and approximate material properties of the FG plates with porosity phases. The validity of this theory is studied by comparing some of the present results with other higher-order theories reported in the literature, the influence of material parameter, the volume fraction of porosity and the thickness ratio on the behavior mechanical P-FGM plate are represented by numerical examples.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제62권4호
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• pp.401-415
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• 2017

A new higher shear deformation theory (HSDT) is presented for the thermal buckling behavior of functionally graded (FG) sandwich plates. It uses only four unknowns, which is even less than the first shear deformation theory (FSDT) and the conventional HSDTs. The theory considers a hyperbolic variation of transverse shear stress, respects the traction free boundary conditions and contrary to the conventional HSDTs, the present one presents a new displacement field which includes undetermined integral terms. Material characteristics and thermal expansion coefficient of the sandwich plate faces are considered to be graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The core layer is still homogeneous and made of an isotropic material. The thermal loads are supposed as uniform, linear and non-linear temperature rises within the thickness direction. An energy based variational principle is used to derive the governing equations as an eigenvalue problem. The validation of the present work is carried out with the available results in the literature. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the influences of variations of volume fraction index, length-thickness ratio, loading type and functionally graded layers thickness on nondimensional thermal buckling loads.

• Advances in materials Research
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.155-177
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• 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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제48권5호
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• pp.583-597
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• 2023

This paper introduces a novel approach to multi-material topology optimization (MTO) targeting in-plane bi-directional functionally graded (IBFG) non-uniform thickness Reissner-Mindlin plates, employing an alternative active phase approach. The mathematical formulation integrates a first shear deformation theory (FSDT) to address compliance minimization as the objective function. Through an alternating active-phase algorithm in conjunction with the block Gauss-Seidel method, the study transforms a multi-phase topology optimization challenge with multi-volume fraction constraints into multiple binary phase sub-problems, each with a single volume fraction constraint. The investigation focuses on IBFG materials that incorporate adequate local bulk and shear moduli to enhance the precision of material interactions. Furthermore, the well-established mixed interpolation of tensorial components 4-node elements (MITC4) is harnessed to tackle shear-locking issues inherent in thin plate models. The study meticulously presents detailed mathematical formulations for IBFG plates in the MTO framework, underscored by numerous numerical examples demonstrating the method's efficiency and reliability.