• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.711-726
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• 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
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.13-29
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• 2019

This work presents the buckling investigation of functionally graded plates resting on two parameter elastic foundations by using a new hyperbolic plate theory. The main advantage of this theory is that, in addition to including the shear deformation effect, the displacement field is modelled with only four unknowns and which is even less than the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) by introducing undetermined integral terms, hence it is unnecessary to use shear correction factors. The governing equations are derived using Hamilton's principle and solved using Navier's steps. The validation of the proposed theoretical model is performed to demonstrate the efficacy of the model. The effects of various parameters like the Winkler and Pasternak modulus coefficients, inhomogeneity parameter, aspect ratio and thickness ratio on the behaviour of the functionally graded plates are studied. It can be concluded that the present theory is not only accurate but also simple in predicting the critical buckling loads of functionally graded plates on elastic foundation.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.269-283
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• 2016

A two new high-order shear deformation theory for bending analysis is presented for a simply supported, functionally graded plate with porosities resting on an elastic foundation. This porosities may possibly occur inside the functionally graded materials (FGMs) during their fabrication, while material properties varying to a simple power-law distribution along the thickness direction. Unlike other theories, there are only four unknown functions involved, as compared to five in other shear deformation theories. The theories presented are variationally consistent and strongly similar to the classical plate theory in many aspects. It does not require the shear correction factor, and gives rise to the transverse shear stress variation so that the transverse shear stresses vary parabolically across the thickness to satisfy free surface conditions for the shear stress. It is established that the volume fraction of porosity significantly affect the mechanical behavior of thick function ally graded plates. The validity of the two new theories is shown by comparing the present results with other higher-order theories. 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.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.509-524
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• 2017

In this article, a free vibration analysis of functionally graded (FG) plates resting on elastic foundations is presented using a quasi-3D hybrid-type higher order shear deformation theory. Undetermined integral terms are employed in the proposed displacement field and modeled based on a hybrid-type (sinusoidal and parabolic) quasi-3D HSDT with five unknowns in which the stretching effect is taken into account. Thus, it can be said that the significant feature of this theory is that it deals with only 5 unknowns as the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The elastic foundation parameters are introduced in the present formulation by following the Pasternak (two-parameter) mathematical model. Equations of motion are obtained via the Hamilton's principles and solved using Navier's method. Accuracy of the proposed theory is confirmed by comparing the results of numerical examples with the ones available in literature.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.357-371
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• 2022

This paper presents a parametric study on the free vibration analysis of a functionally graded material (FGM) circular plate with non-uniform thickness resting on a variable Pasternak elastic foundation. The mechanical properties of the material vary in the transverse direction through the thickness of the plate according to the power-law distribution to represent the constituent components. The equation of motion of the circular plate has been carried out based on the classical plate theory (CPT), and the differential quadrature method (DQM) is employed to solve the governing equations as a semi-analytical method. The grid points are chosen based on Chebyshev-Gauss-Lobatto distribution to achieve acceptable convergence and better accuracy. The influence of geometric parameters, variable elastic foundation, and functionally graded variation for clamped and simply supported boundary conditions on the first three natural frequencies are investigated. Comparisons of results with similar studies in the literature have been presented and two-dimensional mode shapes for particular plates have been plotted to illustrate the effect of variable thickness profile.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.35-53
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• 2016

Flexural bending analysis of perfect and imperfect functionally graded materials plates under hygro-thermo-mechanical loading are investigated in this present paper. Due to technical problems during FGM fabrication, porosities and micro-voids can be created inside FGM samples which may lead to the reduction in density and strength of materials. In this investigation, the FGM plates are assumed to have even and uneven distributions of porosities over the plate cross-section. The modified rule of mixture is used to approximate material properties of the FGM plates including the porosity volume fraction. In order the elastic coefficients, thermal coefficient and moisture expansion coefficient of the plate are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction. The elastic foundation is modeled as two-parameter Pasternak foundation. The equilibrium equations are given and a number of examples are solved to illustrate bending response of Metal-Ceramic plates subjected to hygro-thermo-mechanical effects and resting on elastic foundations. The influences played by many parameters are investigated.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.889-911
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• 2016

Using the hyperbolic shear deformation plate model and including plate-foundation interaction (Winkler and Pasternak model), an analytical method in order to determine the deflection and stress distributions in simply supported rectangular functionally graded plates (FGP) subjected to a sinusoidal load, a temperature and moisture fields. The present theory exactly satisfies stress boundary conditions on the top and the bottom of the plate. No transversal shear correction factors are needed because a correct representation of the transversal shearing strain is given. Materials properties of the plate (elastic, thermal and moisture expansion coefficients) are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. Numerical examples are presented and discussed for verifying the accuracy of the present theory in predicting the bending response of FGM plates under sinusoidal load and a temperature field as well as moisture concentration. The effects of material properties, temperature, moisture, plate aspect ratio, side-to-thickness ratio, ratio of elastic coefficients (ceramic-metal) and three distributions for both temperature and moisture on deflections and stresses are investigated.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.821-837
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• 2022

This research is devoted to study the effects of humidity and temperature on the bending behavior of functionally graded (FG) ceramic-metal porous plates resting on Pasternak elastic foundation using a quasi-3D hyperbolic shear deformation theory developed recently. The present plate theory with only four unknowns, takes into account both transverse shear and normal deformations and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions on the surfaces of the functionally graded plate without using shear correction factors. Material properties of porous FG plate are defined by rule of the mixture with an additional term of porosity in the through-thickness direction. The governing differential equations are obtained using the "principle of virtual work". Analytically, the Navier method is used to solve the equations that govern a simply supported FG porous plate. The obtained results are checked by comparing the results determined for the perfect and imperfect FG plates with those available in the scientific literature. Effects due to material index, porosity factors, moisture and thermal loads, foundation rigidities, geometric ratios on the FG porous plate are all examined. Finally, this research will help us to design advanced functionally graded materials to ensure better durability and efficiency for hygro-thermal environments.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.317-330
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• 2017

This paper presents a free vibration analysis of plates made of functionally graded materials and resting on two-layer elastic foundations by proposing a non-polynomial four variable refined plate theory. Undetermined integral terms are introduced in the proposed displacement field and unlike the conventional higher shear deformation theory (HSDT), the present one contains only four unknowns. Equations of motion are derived via the Hamilton's principles and solved using Navier's procedure. Accuracy of the present theory is demonstrated by comparing the results of numerical examples with the ones available in literature.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.541-557
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• 2018

This paper presents the influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) waviness and aspect ratio on the vibrational behavior of functionally graded nanocomposite sandwich annular sector plates resting on two-parameter elastic foundations. The carbon nanotube-reinforced (CNTR) sandwich plate has smooth variation of CNT fraction along the thickness direction. The distributions of CNTs are considered functionally graded (FG) or uniform along the thickness 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. Effects of CNT distribution, volume fraction, aspect ratio and waviness, and also effects of Pasternak's elastic foundation coefficients, sandwich plate thickness, face sheets thickness and plate aspect ratio are investigated on the free vibration of the sandwich plates with wavy CNT-reinforced face sheets. The study is carried out based on three-dimensional theory of elasticity and in contrary to two-dimensional theories, such as classical, the first- and the higher-order shear deformation plate theories, this approach does not neglect transverse normal deformations. The sandwich annular sector plate is assumed to be simply supported in the radial edges while any arbitrary boundary conditions are applied to the other two circular edges including simply supported, clamped and free.