• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.547-565
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• 2016

In this work a new 3-unknown non-polynomial shear deformation theory for the buckling and vibration analyses of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates is presented. The present theory accounts for non-linear in plane displacement and constant transverse displacement through the plate thickness, complies with plate surface boundary conditions, and in this manner a shear correction factor is not required. The main advantage of this theory is that, in addition to including the shear deformation effect, the displacement field is modelled with only 3 unknowns as the case of the classical plate theory (CPT) and which is even less than the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The plate properties are assumed to vary according to a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents. Equations of motion are derived from the Hamilton's principle. Analytical solutions of natural frequency and critical buckling load for functionally graded sandwich plates are obtained using the Navier solution. The results obtained for plate with various thickness ratios using the present non-polynomial plate theory are not only substantially more accurate than those obtained using the classical plate theory, but are almost comparable to those obtained using higher order theories with more number of unknown functions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.6 no.7
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• pp.727-746
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• 1998

Finite element models and numerical results are presented for bending and natural vibration using the unified third-order plate theory developed in Part 1 of this paper. The unified third-order theory contains the classical, first-order, and other third-order plate theories as special cases. Analytical solutions are developed using the Navier and L$\acute{e}$vy solution procedures (see Part 1 of the paper). Displacement finite element models of the unified third-order theory are developed herein. The finite element models are based on $C^0$ interpolation of the inplane displacements and rotation functions and $C^1$ interpolation of the transverse deflection. Numerical results of bending and natural vibration are presented to evaluate the accuracy of various plate theories.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1265-1283
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• 2018

This paper presents a four-variable first-order shear deformation theory considering in-plane rotation of functionally graded plates. In recent studies, a simple first-order shear deformation theory was developed and extended to functionally graded plates. It has only four variables, separating the deflection into bending and shear parts, while the conventional first-order shear deformation theory has five variables. However, this simple first-order shear deformation theory only provides good predictions for simply supported plates since it does not consider in-plane rotation varying through the thickness of the plates. The present theory also has four variables, but considers the variation of in-plane rotation such that it is able to correctly predict the responses of the plates with any boundary conditions. Analytical solutions are obtained for rectangular plates with various boundary conditions. Comparative studies demonstrate the effects of in-plane rotation and the accuracy of the present theory in predicting the responses of functionally graded plates.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.835-854
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• 2015

In this paper, the modified form of shear deformation plate theories is proposed. First, the displacement field geometry of classical and the first order shear deformation theories are compared with each other. Using this comparison shows that there is a kinematic relation among independent variables of the first order shear deformation theory. So, the modified forms of rotation functions in shear deformation theories are proposed. Governing equations for rectangular and circular thick laminated plates, having been analyzed numerically so far, are solved by method of separation of variables. Natural frequencies and mode shapes of the plate are determined. The results of the present method are compared with those of previously published papers with good agreement obtained. Efficiency, simplicity and excellent results of this method are extensible to a wide range of similar problems. Accurate solution for governing equations of thick composite plates has been made possible for the first time.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.867-891
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• 2014

An equivalent single layer trigonometric shear deformation theory taking into account transverse shear deformation effect as well as transverse normal strain effect is presented for static flexure of cross-ply laminated composite and sandwich plates. The inplane displacement field uses sinusoidal function in terms of thickness coordinate to include the transverse shear deformation effect. The cosine function in thickness coordinate is used in transverse displacement to include the effect of transverse normal strain. The kinematics of the present theory is much richer than those of the other higher order shear deformation theories, because if the trigonometric term (involving thickness coordinate z) is expanded in power series, the kinematics of higher order theories (which are usually obtained by power series in thickness coordinate z) are implicitly taken into account to good deal of extent. Governing equations and boundary conditions of the theory are obtained using the principle of virtual work. The closed-form solutions of simply supported cross-ply laminated composite and sandwich plates have been obtained. The results of present theory are compared with those of the classical plate theory (CPT), first order shear deformation theory (FSDT), higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT) of Reddy and exact three dimensional elasticity theory wherever applicable. The results predicted by present theory are in good agreement with those of higher order shear deformation theory and the elasticity theory.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.89-104
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• 2001

This paper reviews the author's work on the development of relationships between solutions of the Kirchhoff (classical thin) plate theory and the Mindlin (first order shear deformation) thick plate theory. The relationships for deflections, stress-resultants, buckling loads and natural frequencies enable one to obtain the Mindlin plate solutions from the well-known Kirchhoff plate solutions for the same problem without much tedious mathematics. Sample thick plate solutions, deduced from the relationships, are presented as benchmark solutions for researchers to use in checking their numerical thick plate solutions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.5
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• pp.617-625
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• 2022

A novel three variable refined plate theory (TVRPT) is developed in this article for laminated composite plates for the first time. The theory takes into account the nonlinear variation of transverse shear deformations, and satisfies the boundary conditions of zero traction on the plate surfaces without considering the "shear correction factor". The important characteristic of this new kinematic is that the unknowns numbers is only 3 as is employed in "classical plate theory" (CPT). The numerical results of the current theory are compared with 3D-elasticity solutions and the calculations of "first order theories" and other higher order models found in the literature.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.257-276
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• 2016

In this paper, a new simple higher-order shear deformation theory for bending and free vibration analysis of functionally graded (FG) plates is developed. The significant feature of this formulation is that, in addition to including a sinusoidal variation of transverse shear strains through the thickness of the plate, it deals with only three unknowns as the classical plate theory (CPT), instead of five 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. Equations of motion are derived from Hamilton's principle. Analytical solutions for the bending and free vibration analysis are obtained for simply supported plates. The accuracy of the present solutions is verified by comparing the obtained results with those predicted by classical theory, first-order shear deformation theory, and higher-order shear deformation theory. Verification studies show that the proposed theory is not only accurate and simple in solving the bending and free vibration behaviours of FG plates, but also comparable with the other higher-order shear deformation theories which contain more number of unknowns.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.213-232
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• 2018

First time, an exact solution for free vibration of the Levy-type rectangular laminated plate is developed considering the most efficient Zig-Zag theory (ZIGT) and third order theory (TOT). The plate is subjected to hard simply supported boundary condition (Levy-type) along x axis. Using the equilibrium equations and the plate constitutive relations, a set of 12 m first order differential homogenous equations are obtained, containing displacements and stress resultant as primary variables. The natural frequencies of a single-layer isotropic, multi-layer composites and sandwich plates are tabulated for three values of length-to-thickness ratio (S) and five set of boundary conditions and further assessed by comparing with existing literature and recently developed 3D EKM (extended Kantorovich method) solution. It is found that for the symmetric composite plate, TOT produces better results than ZIGT. For antisymmetric and sandwich plates, ZIGT predicts the frequency for different boundary conditions within 3% error with respect to 3D elasticity solution while TOT gives 10% error. But, ZIGT gives better predictions than the TOT concerning the displacement and stress variables.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.641-654
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• 2004

This paper presents a theoretic model of a smart structure, a transversely isotropic piezoelectric thick square plate constructed with three laminas, piezoelectric-elastic-piezoelectric layer, by adopting the first order shear deformation plate theory and piezoelectric theory. This model assumes that the transverse displacements through thickness are linear, and the in-plane displacements in the mid-plane of the plate are not taken to be account. By using Fourier's series expansion, an exact Navier typed analytical solution for deflection and electric potential of the simply supported smart plate is obtained. The electric boundary conditions are being grounded along four vertical edges. The external voltage and non-external voltage applied on the surfaces of piezoelectric layers are all considered. The convergence of the present approach is carefully studied. Comparison studies are also made for verifying the accuracy and the applicability of the present method. Then some new results of the electric potentials and displacements are provided. Numerical results show that the electrostatic voltage is approximately linear in the thickness direction, while parabolic in the plate in-plane directions, for both the deflection and the electric voltage. These results are very useful for distributed sensing and finite element verification.