• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.711-731
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• 2020

This paper deals with free vibration of FG sandwich annular sector plates on Pasternak elastic foundation with different boundary conditions, based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The plates with simply supported radial edges and arbitrary boundary conditions on their circular edges are considered. The influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) waviness, aspect ratio, internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) on the vibrational behavior of functionally graded nanocomposite sandwich plates is investigated in this research work. The distributions of CNTs are considered functionally graded (FG) or uniform along the thickness of upper and bottom layers of the sandwich sectorial plates 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. The core of structure is porous and the internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) are distributed in the matrix of core either uniformly or non-uniformly according to three different patterns. The elastic properties of the nanocomposite are obtained by employing Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model. A semi-analytic approach composed of 2D-Generalized Differential Quadrature Method (2D-GDQM) and series solution is adopted to solve the equations of motion. The fast rate of convergence and accuracy of the method are investigated through the different solved examples. Some new results for the natural frequencies of the plate are prepared, which include the effects of elastic coefficients of foundation, boundary conditions, material and geometrical parameters. The new results can be used as benchmark solutions for future researches.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.61-73
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• 2018

In this article, a higher shear deformation theory (HSDT) is improved to consider the influence of thickness stretching in functionally graded (FG) plates. The proposed HSDT has fewer numbers of variables and equations of motion than the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT), but considers the transverse shear deformation influences without requiring shear correction coefficients. The kinematic of the present improved HSDT is modified by considering undetermined integral terms in in-plane displacements and a parabolic distribution of the vertical displacement within the thickness, and consequently, the thickness stretching influence is taken into account. Analytical solutions of simply supported FG plates are found, and the computed results are compared with 3D solutions and those generated by other HSDTs. Verification examples demonstrate that the developed theory is not only more accurate than the refined plate theory, but also comparable with the HSDTs which use more number of variables.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.1429-1449
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• 2016

The effect of porosity on bending and free vibration behavior of simply supported functionally graded plate reposed on the Winkler-Pasternak foundation is investigated analytically in the present paper. The modified rule of mixture covering porosity phases is used to describe and approximate material properties of the FGM plates with porosity phases. The effect due to transverse shear is included by using a new refined shear deformation theory. The number of unknown functions involved in the present theory is only four as against five or more in case of other shear deformation theories. The Poisson ratio is held constant. Based on the sinusoidal shear deformation theory, the position of neutral surface is determined and the equation of motion for FG rectangular plates resting on elastic foundation based on neutral surface is obtained through the minimum total potential energy and Hamilton's principle. The convergence of the method is demonstrated and to validate the results, comparisons are made with the available solutions for both isotropic and functionally graded material (FGM). The effect of porosity volume fraction on Al/Al2O3 and Ti-6Al-4V/Aluminum oxide plates are presented in graphical forms. The roles played by the constituent volume fraction index, the foundation stiffness parameters and the geometry of the plate is also studied.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.4
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• pp.439-453
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• 2021

In this work, quasi three-dimensional (quasi-3D) shear deformation theory is presented for bending and dynamic analysis of functionally graded (FG) plates. The effect of varying material properties and volume fraction of the constituent on dynamic and bending behavior of the FG plate is discussed. The benefit of this model over other contributions is that a number of variables is diminished. The developed model considers nonlinear displacements through the thickness and ensures the free boundary conditions at top and bottom faces of the plate without using any shear correction factors. The basic equations that account for the effects of transverse and normal shear stresses are derived from Hamilton's principle. The analytical solutions are determined via the Navier procedure. The accuracy of the proposed formulation is proved by comparisons with the different 2D, 3D and quasi-3D solutions found in the literature.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.43-65
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• 2023

Free vibration analysis of power law and sigmoidal sandwich plates made up of functionally graded materials (FGMs) has been carried out using finite element based higher-order zigzag theory. The present model satisfies all-important conditions such as transverse shear stress-free conditions at the plate's top and bottom surface along with continuity condition for transverse stresses at the interface. A Nine-noded C0 finite element having eleven degrees of freedom per node is used during the study. The present model is free from the requirement of any penalty function or post-processing technique and hence is computationally efficient. The present model's effectiveness is demonstrated by comparing the present results with available results in the literature. Several new results have been proposed in the present work, which will serve as a benchmark for future works. It has been observed that the material variation law, power-law exponent, skew angle, and boundary condition of the plate widely determines the free vibration behavior of sandwich functionally graded (FG) plate.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.623-631
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• 2017

Present paper deals with the temperature-dependent buckling analysis of sandwich nanocomposite plates resting on elastic medium subjected to magnetic field. The lamina layers are reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as uniform and functionally graded (FG). The elastic medium is considered as orthotropic Pasternak foundation with considering the effects of thermal loading on the spring and shear constants of medium. Mixture rule is utilized for obtaining the effective material properties of each layer. Adopting the Reddy shear deformation plate theory, the governing equations are derived based on energy method and Hamilton's principle. The buckling load of the structure is calculated with the Navier's method for the simply supported sandwich nanocomposite plates. Parametric study is conducted on the combined effects of the volume percent and distribution types of the CNTs, temperature change, elastic medium, magnetic field and geometrical parameters of the plates on the buckling load of the sandwich structure. The results show that FGX distribution of the CNTs leads to higher stiffness and consequently higher buckling load. In addition, considering the magnetic field increases the buckling load of the sandwich nanocomposite plate.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.4
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• pp.513-524
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• 2019

The present article deals with thermal buckling of functionally graded plates with porosity and resting on elastic foundation. The basic formulation is based on quasi 3D theory. The present theory contains only four unknowns and also accommodates the thickness stretching effect. Porosity-dependent material coefficients of the plate are compositionally graded throughout the thickness according to a modified micromechanical model. Different patterns of porosity distributions are considered. The thermal loads are assumed to be uniform, linear and non-linear temperature rises through the thickness direction. The plate is assumed to be simply supported on all edges. Various numerical examples are given to check the accuracy and reliability of the present solution, in which both the present results and those reported in the literature are provided. In addition, several numerous new results for thick FG plates with porosity are also presented.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.2
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• pp.233-246
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• 2023

Bending and buckling analysis of multi-directional porous functionally graded sandwich plate has been performed for two cases namely: FG skin with homogeneous core and FG core with homogeneous skin. The principle of virtual displacements was employed and the solution was obtained using Navier's technique. This theory imposes traction-free boundary conditions on the surfaces and does not require shear correction factors. The validation of the present study has been performed with those available in the literature. The composition of metal-ceramic-based FGM changes in longitudinal and transverse directions according to the power law. Different porosity laws, such as uniform distribution, unevenly and logarithmically uneven distributions were used to mimic the imperfections in the functionally graded material that were introduced during the fabrication process. Several sandwich plates schemes were studied based on the plate's symmetry and the thickness of each layer. The effects of grading parameters and porosity laws on the bending and buckling of sandwich plates were examined.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.899-910
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• 2021

A 4-unknown shear deformation theory is applied to investigate the vibration of functionally graded plates under thermal environment. The plate is fabricated from a functionally graded material mixed of ceramic and metal with continuously varying material properties through the plate thickness. Three types of thermal loadings, uniform, linear and nonlinear temperature rises along the plate thickness are taken into account. The present theory contains four unknown functions as against five or more in other higher order shear deformation theories. The through-the-thickness distributions of transverse shear stresses of the plate are considered to vary parabolically and vanish at upper and lower surfaces. The present model does not require any problem dependent shear correction factor. Analytical solutions for the free vibration analysis are derived based on Fourier series that satisfy the boundary conditions (Navier's method). Benchmark solutions are firstly considered to evaluate the accuracy of the proposed model. Comparisons with the solutions available in literature revealed the good capabilities of the present model for the simulations of vibration responses of FG plates. Some parametric studies are carried out for the frequency analysis by varying the volume fraction profile and the temperature distribution across the plate thickness.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1033-1048
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• 2016

An analytical solution based on the neutral surface concept is developed to study the free vibration behavior of simply supported functionally graded plate reposed on the elastic foundation by taking into account the effect of transverse shear deformations. No transversal shear correction factors are needed because a correct representation of the transversal shearing strain obtained by using a new refined shear deformation theory. The foundation is described by the Winkler-Pasternak model. The Young's modulus of the plate is assumed to vary continuously through the thickness according to a power law formulation, and the Poisson ratio is held constant. The equation of motion for FG rectangular plates resting on elastic foundation is obtained through Hamilton's principle. Numerical examples are provided to show the effect of foundation stiffness parameters presented for thick to thin plates and for various values of the gradient index, aspect and side to thickness ratio. It was found that the proposed theory predicts the fundamental frequencies very well with the ones available in literature.