Nonlinear analysis of sandwich plates with FGM face sheets resting on elastic foundations

Nonlinear vibration, nonlinear bending and postbuckling analyses are presented for a sandwich plate with FGM face sheets resting on an elastic foundation in thermal environments. The material properties of FGM face sheets 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. The governing equation of the plate that includes plate-foundation interaction is solved by a two-step perturbation technique. The thermal effects are also included and the material properties of both FGM face sheets and homogeneous core layer are assumed to be temperature-dependent. The numerical results reveal that the foundation stiffness and temperature rise have a significant effect on the natural frequency, buckling load, postbuckling and nonlinear bending behaviors of sandwich plates. The results also reveal that the core-to-face sheet thickness ratio and the volume fraction distribution of FGM face sheets have a significant effect on the natural frequency, buckling load and postbuckling behavior of the sandwich plate, whereas this effect is less pronounced for the nonlinear bending, and is marginal for the nonlinear to linear frequency ratios of the same sandwich plate.     

Thermal buckling of various types of FGM sandwich plates

The sinusoidal shear deformation plate theory is used to study the thermal buckling of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates. This theory includes the shear deformation and contains the higher- and first-order shear deformation theories and classical plate theory as special cases. Material properties and thermal expansion coefficient of the sandwich plate faces 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. The core layer is still homogeneous and made of an isotropic material. Several kinds of symmetric sandwich plates are presented. Stability equations of FGM sandwich plates include the thermal effects. The thermal loads are assumed to be uniform, linear and non-linear distribution through-the-thickness. Numerical examples cover the effects of the gradient index, plate aspect ratio, side-to-thickness ratio, loading type and sandwich plate type on the critical buckling for sandwich plates.     

A new analysis of nonlinear free vibration behavior of bi-functionally graded sandwich plates using the p-version of the finite element method

Geometrically nonlinear vibration of bi-functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates has been carried out by the p-version of the finite element method (FEM). The bi-FGM sandwich plate is made up of two face-sheet layers of two different FGM and one layer of homogeneous core. The nonlinear equations of motion of bi-FGM sandwich plates are establish using the harmonic balance method and solved iteratively by the linearized updated mode method. The effects of amplitude vibration, mechanical properties, geometrical parameters, thickness ratio of bi-FGM layers, and volume fraction exponent on the nonlinear vibration behavior of bi-FGM sandwich plates are plotted and investigated.     

Thermomechanical bending analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates with both functionally graded face sheets and functionally graded cores

The bending response of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates subjected to thermomechanical loads is investigated using a four-variable refined plate theory. A new type of FGM sandwich plate, namely, both FGM face sheets and an FGM hard core, is considered. Containing only four unknown functions, the governing equations are deduced based on the principle of virtual work and then these equations are solved via the Navier approach. Analytical solutions are obtained to predict the deflections and stresses of simply supported FGM sandwich plates. Benchmark comparisons of the solutions obtained for a degradation model (functionally graded face sheets and homogeneous cores) with ones computed by several other theories are conducted to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the present approach. The influences of volume fraction distribution, geometrical parameters, and thermal load on dimensionless deflections and normal and shear stresses of the FGM sandwich plates are studied.     

Thermal stability analysis of circular functionally graded sandwich plates of variable thickness using pseudo-spectral method

In the present study, the thermal stability of laminated functionally graded (FGM) circular plates of variable thickness subjected to uniform temperature rise based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory is presented. Furthermore, two models for FGM plates with variable thickness, corresponding with two manufacturing methods, are proposed. The laminated FGM plate with variable thickness is considered as a sandwich plate constituted of a homogeneous core of variable thickness and two constant thickness FGM face sheets whose material properties are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power law. In order to determine the distribution of the prebuckling thermal load along the radius, the membrane equation is solved using the shooting method. Subsequently, employing the pseudo-spectral method that makes use of Chebyshev polynomials, the stability equations are solved numerically to evaluate the critical temperature rise. The results demonstrate that the thermal stability is significantly influenced by the thickness variation profile, aspect ratio, the volume fraction index, and the core-to-face sheet thickness ratio.     

Transient waves in plates of functionally graded materials

A numerical method is proposed for analysing transient waves in plates of functionally graded material (FGM) excited by impact loads. The material properties of the FGM plate have a gradient in the thickness direction and are anisotropic in the plane of the plate. In the present method, the FGM plate is divided into layer elements in the thickness direction. For an accurate modelling of the variation of the material property of FGM plates, it is expressed by second‐order polynomials in the thickness direction within an element. This can further reduce the number of elements to obtain more accurate results effectively. The principle of virtual work is used to develop approximate dynamic equilibrium equations. The displacement response is determined by employing the Fourier transformation and the modal analysis. As examples, the displacement response of FGM plates excited by line, point and distributed loads is calculated. The computations have shown the efficiency of the present method. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Axisymmetric parametric resonance of polar orthotropic sandwich annular plates

Parametric resonance of polar orthotropic sandwich annular plates with a viscoelastic core layer subjected to a periodic uniform radial stress is studied by the finite element method. The axisymmetric discrete layer annular element and Hamilton's principle are employed to derive the finite element equations of motion for a sandwich plate including the transverse shear effect. The viscoelastic material in the core layer is assumed to be incompressible, and the extensional and shear moduli are described by complex quantities. The regions of dynamic instability are determined by Bolotin's method. The effects of various parameters on the dynamic instability regions are investigated.     

A novel five-variable refined plate theory for vibration analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates

In this article, a new five-variable refined plate theory for the free vibration analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates is developed. By dividing the transverse displacement into bending, shear, and thickness stretching parts, the number of unknowns and governing equations of the present theory is reduced, and hence, makes it simple to use. Indeed, the number of unknown functions involved in the present theory is only five, as opposed to six or more in the case of other shear and normal deformation theories. The theory accounts for hyperbolic distribution of the transverse shear strains, and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions on the surfaces of the plate without using a shear correction factor. Two common types of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates, namely, the sandwich with FGM facesheet and homogeneous core and the sandwich with homogeneous facesheet and FGM core, are considered. The equations of motion are obtained using Hamilton's principle. Numerical results of the present theory are compared with three-dimensional elasticity solutions and other higher-order theories reported in the literature. It can be concluded that the proposed theory is accurate and efficient in predicting the free-vibration response of functionally graded sandwich plates.     

正交异性蜂窝夹层板的动力学分析

采用Reddy 高阶剪切理论对正交各向异性蜂窝夹层板进行了分层研究, 推导出蜂窝夹层板的动力学基本方程, 并且对正交各向异性单向蜂窝夹层板的自由振动进行了深入的研究, 给出了对边简支时的频率方程及振型函数, 同时分析了夹芯厚度及厚跨比对其频率的影响, 并与低阶剪切理论作了比较, 结果证明高阶理论较好。      

Thermoelastic bending analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates

The thermoelastic bending analysis of functionally graded ceramic–metal sandwich plates is studied. The governing equations of equilibrium are solved for a functionally graded sandwich plates under the effect of thermal loads. The sandwich plate faces are assumed to have isotropic, two-constituent material distribution through the thickness, and the modulus of elasticity, Poisson’s ratio of the faces, and thermal expansion coefficients are 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. Several kinds of sandwich plates are used taking into account the symmetry of the plate and the thickness of each layer. Field equations for functionally graded sandwich plates whose deformations are governed by either the shear deformation theories or the classical theory are derived. Displacement functions that identically satisfy boundary conditions are used to reduce the governing equations to a set of coupled ordinary differential equations with variable coefficients. The influences played by the transverse normal strain, shear deformation, thermal load, plate aspect ratio, side-to-thickness ratio, and volume fraction distribution are studied. Numerical results for deflections and stresses of functionally graded metal–ceramic plates are investigated.     

An Analysis of the Heat Conduction Problem for Plates with the Functionally Graded Material Using the Hybrid Numerical Method

A heat conduction analysis of the functionally graded material (FGM) plates has been investigated based on the hybrid numerical method (HNM). HNM combines the layer element method with the method of Fourier transforms and proves to be efficient and reliable. The FGM plates are infinite large and the material properties vary continuously through thickness. The heat source continually acted one the FGM plates. The temperature distribution of the FGM plates is obtained in different time and different position. Some useful results for heat conduction problems are shown in figures. This article applies HNM to heat conduction firstly and provides us a new way for studying the heat conduction problems.     

A unified formulation of RMVT-based finite cylindrical layer methods for sandwich circular hollow cylinders with an embedded FGM layer

A unified formulation of finite cylindrical layer methods (FCLMs) based on the Reissner mixed variational theorem (RMVT) is developed for the quasi-three-dimensional (3D) analysis of simply-supported, multilayered composite cylinders and sandwich circular hollow cylinders with an embedded functionally graded material (FGM) cylindrical layer, subject to mechanical loads. The material properties of the FGM layer are assumed to obey an exponent-law varying exponentially with the thickness coordinate. In this formulation, the circular hollow cylinder is divided into a number of finite cylindrical layers, in which the trigonometric functions and Lagrange polynomials are used to interpolate the in- and out-of-surface variations of the field variables of each individual layer, respectively. Because an h-refinement instead of a p-refinement process is adopted to yield the convergent solutions in this work, the layerwise linear, quadratic or cubic function distribution through the thickness coordinate is assumed for the related field variables. The accuracy of the FCLMs developed in this article is assessed by comparing their solutions with the exact 3D ones available in the literature, and the convergence rate and possibility of numerical instability of these FCLMs are also investigated.     

A unified formulation of RMVT-based finite cylindrical layer methods for sandwich circular hollow cylinders with an embedded FGM layer

A unified formulation of finite cylindrical layer methods (FCLMs) based on the Reissner mixed variational theorem (RMVT) is developed for the quasi-three-dimensional (3D) analysis of simply-supported, multilayered composite cylinders and sandwich circular hollow cylinders with an embedded functionally graded material (FGM) cylindrical layer, subject to mechanical loads. The material properties of the FGM layer are assumed to obey an exponent-law varying exponentially with the thickness coordinate. In this formulation, the circular hollow cylinder is divided into a number of finite cylindrical layers, in which the trigonometric functions and Lagrange polynomials are used to interpolate the in- and out-of-surface variations of the field variables of each individual layer, respectively. Because an h-refinement instead of a p-refinement process is adopted to yield the convergent solutions in this work, the layerwise linear, quadratic or cubic function distribution through the thickness coordinate is assumed for the related field variables. The accuracy of the FCLMs developed in this article is assessed by comparing their solutions with the exact 3D ones available in the literature, and the convergence rate and possibility of numerical instability of these FCLMs are also investigated.     

Influence of neutral surface position on the nonlinear stability behavior of functionally graded plates

Nonlinear behavior of functionally graded material (FGM) skew plates under in-plane load is investigated here using a shear deformable finite element method. The material is graded in the thickness direction and a simple power law based on the rule of mixture is used to estimate the effective material properties. The neutral surface position for such FGM plates is determined and the first order shear deformation theory based on exact neutral surface position is employed here. The present model is compared with the conventional mid-surface based formulation, which uses extension-bending coupling matrix to include the noncoincidence of neutral surface with the geometric mid-surface for unsymmetric plates. The nonlinear governing equations are solved through Newton–Raphson technique. The nonlinear behavior of FGM skew plates under compressive and tensile in-plane load are examined considering different system parameters such as constituent gradient index, boundary condition, thickness-to-span ratio and skew angle. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Nonlinear dynamic response and vibration of imperfect shear deformable functionally graded plates subjected to blast and thermal loads

Based on Reddy's higher-order shear deformation plate theory, this article presents an analysis of the nonlinear dynamic response and vibration of imperfect functionally graded material (FGM) thick plates subjected to blast and thermal loads resting on elastic foundations. The material properties are assumed to be temperature-dependent and graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. Numerical results for the dynamic response and vibration of the FGM plates with two cases of boundary conditions are obtained by the Galerkin method and fourth-order Runge–Kutta method. The results show the effects of geometrical parameters, material properties, imperfections, temperature increment, elastic foundations, and boundary conditions on the nonlinear dynamic response and vibration of FGM plates.     

Dynamic stability analysis of functionally graded higher-order shear deformable microshells based on the modified couple stress elasticity theory

Size-dependent dynamic stability response of higher-order shear deformable cylindrical microshells made of functionally graded materials (FGMs) and subjected to simply supported end supports is investigated. Material properties of the microshells vary in the thickness direction according to the Mori–Tanaka scheme. The modified couple stress elasticity theory in conjunction with the classical higher-order shear deformation shell theory is utilized to develop non-classical shell model containing additional internal length scale parameter to interpret size effect. The differential equations of motion and boundary conditions are derived by using Hamilton’s principle. The governing equations are then written in the form of Mathieu–Hill equations and then Bolotin’s method is employed to determine the instability regions. Selected numerical results are given to indicate the influences of internal length scale parameter, material property gradient index, static load factor and axial wave number on the dynamic stability behavior of FGM microshells. It is found that the width of the instability region for an FGM microshell increases with the decrease of the value of dimensionless length scale parameter. Moreover, it is shown that the classical shell model has an overestimated prediction for the width of instability region corresponding to the FGM microshells especially with lower values of material property gradient index.     

A meshfree radial point interpolation method for analysis of functionally graded material (FGM) plates

A meshfree model is presented for the static and dynamic analyses of functionally graded material (FGM) plates based on the radial point interpolation method (PIM). In the present method, the mid-plane of an FGM plate is represented by a set of distributed nodes while the material properties in its thickness direction are computed analytically to take into account their continuous variations from one surface to another. Several examples are successfully analyzed for static deflections, natural frequencies and dynamic responses of FGM plates with different volume fraction exponents and boundary conditions. The convergence rate and accuracy are studied and compared with the finite element method (FEM). The effects of the constituent fraction exponent on static deflection as well as natural frequency are also investigated in detail using different FGM models. Based on the current material gradient, it is found that as the volume fraction exponent increases, the mechanical characteristics of the FGM plate approach those of the pure metal plate blended in the FGM.     

Failure analysis of adhesive surface damage in sandwich plates under compressed loads

Abstract

Failures of honeycomb sandwich plates are analyzed using experiments and three-dimensional (3D) finite element simulations to understand the failure mechanism. Meanwhile, correlations of the critical load and various physical parameters (e.g., height and thickness of the core) are investigated. The results demonstrated that the core height and skin thickness have significant effects on the compressed load buckling of the honeycomb sandwich plates, the core density is a sub-critical sensitive factor, while wall thickness and spacing of the cell, and the sandwich modulus have negligible effects. Cracking on the adhesive surface is the dominant factor to reduce the buckling critical load of the laminated plate, which leads to failures of sandwich plates. The ultimate failure of the sandwich panel is attributed to severe deformations that lead to local cracking of the entire cemented adhesive surface. Due to the bonding of the adhesive surface defects, the actual loads related to the core height are large enough to cause compressions with local buckling. Hence, the actual loads cannot reflect the performance of the sandwich panels. It is recommended to use panels with appropriate thicknesses below the sandwich and moderate grid density in the design.     

Dynamic stability of laminated FGM plates based on higher-order shear deformation theory

This paper conducts a dynamic stability analysis of symmetrically laminated FGM rectangular plates with general out-of-plane supporting conditions, subjected to a uniaxial periodic in-plane load and undergoing uniform temperature change. Theoretical formulations are based on Reddys third-order shear deformation plate theory, and account for the temperature dependence of material properties. A semi-analytical Galerkin-differential quadrature approach is employed to convert the governing equations into a linear system of Mathieu–Hill equations from which the boundary points on the unstable regions are determined by Bolotins method. Free vibration and bifurcation buckling are also discussed as subset problems. Numerical results are presented in both dimensionless tabular and graphical forms for laminated plates with FGM layers made of silicon nitride and stainless steel. The influences of various parameters such as material composition, layer thickness ratio, temperature change, static load level, boundary constraints on the dynamic stability, buckling and vibration frequencies are examined in detail through parametric studies.This work was fully supported by grants from the Australian Research Council (A00104534) and from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. CityU 1024/01 E). The authors are grateful for this financial support.     

The vibration and stability of a three-layered conical shell containing an FGM layer subjected to axial compressive load

Summary In this paper, the vibration and stability of a three-layered conical shell containing a functionally graded material (FGM) layer subjected to axial compressive load are studied. The material properties of the functionally graded layer are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness of the shell. The variation of properties follows an arbitrary distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The fundamental relations, the dynamic stability and compatibility equations of three-layered truncated conical shells containing an FGM layer are obtained first. Applying Galerkin's method, these equations are transformed to a pair of time dependent differential equations, and critical axial load and frequency parameter are obtained. The results show that the critical parameters are affected by the configurations of the constituent materials and the variation of the shell geometry. Comparing results with those in the literature validates the present analysis.