• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.615-622
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• 2022

In this paper, considering the temperature dependence of material physical parameters as well as the effects of thermal effect and shear deformation, we have conducted an in-depth study on the wave propagation of functionally graded (FG) materials circular plate in thermal environment based on the physical neutral surface concept. The dynamic governing equations of functionally graded plates are established, and the dispersion relation of wave propagation is derived. The influence of different temperature fields on the propagation characteristics of flexural waves in FG circular plates is discussed in detail. It can be found that the phase velocity and group velocity of wave propagation in the plate decrease with the increase of temperature.

• 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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2022

In this paper, a nonlinear numerical method to solve the large deflection problem is introduced. And the non-dimensional load-deflection behavior of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) plates is parametrically investigated. The large deflection problem is formulated according to the von Kármán nonlinear theory and the (1,1,0)^* hierarchical model, and it is approximated by 2-D natural element method (NEM). The shear locking phenomenon is suppressed by the selectively reduced integration method. The nonlinear matrix equations are solved by combining the incremental loading scheme and the Newton-Raphson iteration method. The proposed method is validated from the benchmark experiments, where the propose method shows an excellent agreement with the reference methods. The nonlinear behavior of FG-CNTRC plates is evaluated in terms of the non-dimensional load-deflection curve, and it is parametrically investigated with respect to the existence/non-existence and gradient pattern of CNTs, the width-to-thickness and aspect ratios of plates and the type of boundary conditions. The non-dimensional central deflection is significantly reduced when CNTs and added, and it decreases with the volume fraction of CNTs. But, it shows a uniform increase in proportion to the width-to-thickness and aspect ratios. Both the gradient pattern of CNTs and the type of boundary conditions do also show the remarkable effects.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.5
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• pp.517-530
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• 2024

This paper presents a new four-unknown equivalent single layer (ESL) refined plate theory for the buckling analysis of functionally graded (FG) rectangular plates with all simply supported edges and subjected to in-plane mechanical loading conditions. The present model accounts for a parabolic variation of transverse shear stress over the thickness, and accommodates correctly the zero shear stress conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate. The material properties are supposed to vary smoothly in the thickness direction through the rules of mixture named power-law gradation. The governing equilibrium equations are formulated based on the total potential energy principle and solved for simply supported boundary conditions by implementing the Navier's method. A numerical result on elastic buckling using the current theory was computed and compared with those published in the literature to examine the accuracy of the proposed analytical solution. The effects of changing power-law exponent, aspect ratio, thickness ratio and modulus ratio on the critical buckling load of FG plates under different in-plane loading conditions are investigated in detail. Moreover, it was found that the geometric parameters and power-law exponent play significant influences on the buckling behavior of the FG plates.

• 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.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.4
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• pp.437-452
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• 2022

For the first time, the higher-order shear and normal deformable plate theory (HOSNDPT) is used for the vibration and flutter analyses of the multilayer functionally graded graphene platelets reinforced composite (FG-GPLRC) plates under supersonic airflow. For modeling the supersonic airflow, the linear piston theory is adopted. In HOSNDPT, Legendre polynomials are used to approximate the components of the displacement field in the thickness direction. So, all stress and strain components are encountered. Either uniform or three kinds of non-uniform distribution of graphene platelets (GPLs) into polymer matrix are considered. The Young modulus of the FG-GPLRC plate is estimated by the modified Halpin-Tsai model, while the Poisson ratio and mass density are determined by the rule of mixtures. The Hamilton's principle is used to obtain the governing equations of motion and the associated boundary conditions of the plate. For solving the plate's equations of motion, the Galerkin approach is applied. A comparison for the natural frequencies obtained based on the present investigation and those of three-dimensional elasticity theory shows a very good agreement. The flutter boundaries for FG-GPLRC plates based on HOSNDPT are described and the effects of GPL distribution patterns, the geometrical parameters and the weight fraction of GPLs on the flutter frequencies and flutter aerodynamic pressure of the plate are studied in detail. The obtained results show that by increasing 0.5% of GPLs into polymer matrix, the flutter aerodynamic pressure increases approximately 117%, 145%, 166% and 196% for FG-O, FG-A, UD and FG-X distribution patterns, respectively.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.711-722
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• 2022

In this paper, hyperbolic shear deformation plate theory is developed for thermal buckling of functionally graded plates with porosity by dividing transverse displacement into bending and shear parts. The present theory is variationally consistent, and accounts for a quadratic variation of the transverse shearstrains across the thickness and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factors. Three different patterns of porosity distributions (including even and uneven distribution patterns, and the logarithmic-uneven pattern) are considered. The logarithmic-uneven porosities for first time is mentioned. Equilibrium and stability equations are derived based on the present theory. The non-linear governing equations are solved for plates subjected to simply supported boundary conditions. The thermal loads are assumed to be uniform, linear and non-linear distribution through-the-thickness. A comprehensive parametric study is carried out to assess the effects of volume fraction index, porosity fraction index, aspect ratio and side-to-thickness ratio on the buckling temperature difference of imperfect FG plates.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.3
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• pp.293-304
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• 2019

In this paper, a general model is developed to predict the distribution of interfacial shear and normal stresses of FG beam reinforced by porous FGM plates under mechanical loading. The beam is assumed to be isotropic with a constant Poisson's ratio and power law elastic modulus through the beam thickness. Stress distributions, depending on an inhomogeneity constant, were calculated and presented in graphicals forms. It is shown that both the normal and shear stresses at the interface are influenced by the material and geometry parameters of the composite beam, and it is shown that the inhomogeneities play an important role in the distribution of interfacial stresses. The results presented in the paper can serve as a benchmark for future analyses of functionally graded beams strengthened by imperfect varying properties plates. Numerical comparisons between the existing solutions and the present new solution enable a clear appreciation of the effects of various parameters. The results of this study indicated that the imperfect functionally graded panel strengthening systems are effective in enhancing flexural behavior of the strengthened FGM beams. This research is helpful in understanding the mechanical behaviour of the interface and design of hybrid structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.595-610
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• 2019

This paper deals with the static and dynamic behavior of Functionally Graded Carbon Nanotubes (FG-CNT)-reinforced porous sandwich (PMPV) polymer plate. The model of nanocomposite plate is investigated within the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). Two types of porous sandwich plates are supposed (sandwich with face sheets reinforced / homogeneous core and sandwich with homogeneous face sheets / reinforced core). Functionally graded Carbon Nanotubes (FG-CNT) and uniformly Carbon Nanotubes (UD-CNT) distributions of face sheets or core porous plates with uniaxially aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes are considered. The governing equations are derived by using Hamilton's principle. The solution for bending and vibration of such type's porous plates are obtained. The detailed mathematical derivations are provided and the solutions are compared to some cases in the literature. The effect of the several parameters of reinforced sandwich porous plates such as aspect ratios, volume fraction, types of reinforcement, number of modes and thickness of plate on the bending and vibration analyses are studied and discussed. On the question of porosity, this study found that there is a great influence of their variation on the static and vibration of porous sandwich plate.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.659-670
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• 2020

This paper proposes the use of a porous core between layers of laminated composite plates to examine its effect on the natural frequencies of the resulted porous laminated composite sandwich plate (PLCSP) resting on a two-parameter elastic foundation. Moreover, it has been suggested that the dispersion of porosity has two different functionally graded (FG) patterns which are compared with a uniformly dispersed (UD) profile to find their best vibrational efficiency in the proposed PLCSPs. In FG patterns, two types of dispersions, including symmetric (FG-S) and asymmetric (FG-A) patterns have been considered. To derive the governing Eigen value equation of such structures, the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) of plates has been employed. Accordingly, a finite element method (FEM) is developed to solve the derived Eigen value equation. Using the mentioned theory and method, the effects of porosity parameters, fiber orientation of laminated composite, geometrical dimensions, boundary conditions and elastic foundation on the natural frequencies of the proposed PLCSPs have been studied. It is observed that embedding porosity in core layer leads to a significant improvement in the natural frequencies of PLCSPs. Moreover, the natural frequencies of PLCSPs with FG porous core are higher than those with UD porous core.