• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.235-253
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• 2015

In this research, a simple but accurate sinusoidal plate theory for the thermomechanical bending analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates is presented. The main advantage of this approach is that, in addition to incorporating the thickness stretching effect, it deals with only 5 unknowns as the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT), instead of 6 as in the well-known conventional sinusoidal plate theory (SPT). The material properties of the sandwich plate faces are assumed to vary according to a power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The core layer is made of an isotropic ceramic material. Comparison studies are performed to check the validity of the present results from which it can be concluded that the proposed theory is accurate and efficient in predicting the thermomechanical behavior of functionally graded sandwich plates. The effect of side-to-thickness ratio, aspect ratio, the volume fraction exponent, and the loading conditions on the thermomechanical response of functionally graded sandwich plates is also investigated and discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.109-122
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• 2018

In This work an analysis of the propagation of waves of functionally graduated plates is presented by using a high order hyperbolic (HSDT) shear deformation theory. This theory has only four variables, which is less than the theory of first order shear deformation (FSDT). Therefore, a shear correction coefficient is not required. Unlike other conventional shear deformation theories, the present work includes a new field of displacement which introduces indeterminate integral variables. The properties of materials are supposed classified in the direction of the thickness according to two simple distributions of a power law in terms of volume fractions of constituents. The governing equations of the wave propagation in the functionally graded plate are derived by employing the Hamilton's principle. The analytical dispersion relation of the functionally graded plate is obtained by solving an eigenvalue problem. The convergence and the validation of the proposed theoretical numerical model are performed to demonstrate the efficacy of the model.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.387-405
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• 2018

A novel higher shear deformation theory (HSDT) is proposed for the bending, buckling and free vibration investigations of isotropic and functionally graded (FG) sandwich plates. It contains only four variables, which is even less than the first shear deformation theory (FSDT) and the conventional HSDTs. The model accounts for a parabolic variation of transverse shear stress, respects the traction free boundary conditions and contrary to the conventional HSDTs, the present one presents a novel displacement field which incorporates undetermined integral terms. Equations of motion determined in this work are applied for three types of FG structures: FG plates, sandwich plates with FG core and sandwich plates with FG faces. Analytical solutions are given to predict the transverse displacements, stresses, critical buckling forces and natural frequencies of simply supported plates and a comparison study is carried out to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed model.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2014

The present study deals with two dimensional electro-elastic analysis of a functionally graded piezoelectric (FGP) cylinder under internal pressure. Energy method and first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) are employed for this purpose. All mechanical and electrical properties except Poisson ratio are considered as a power function along the radial direction. The cylinder is subjected to uniform internal pressure. By supposing two dimensional displacement and electric potential fields along the radial and axial direction, the governing differential equations can be derived in terms of unknown electrical and mechanical functions. Homogeneous solution can be obtained by imposing the appropriate mechanical and electrical boundary conditions. This proposed solution has capability to solve the cylinder structure with arbitrary boundary conditions. The previous solutions have been proposed for the problem with simple boundary conditions (simply supported cylinder) by using the routine functions such as trigonometric functions. The axial distribution of the axial displacement, radial displacement and electric potential of the cylinder can be presented as the important results of this paper for various non homogeneous indexes. This paper evaluates the effect of a local support on the distribution of mechanical and electrical components. This investigation indicates that a support has important influence on the distribution of mechanical and electrical components rather than a cylinder with ignoring the effect of the supports. Obtained results using present method at regions that are adequate far from two ends of the cylinder can be compared with previous results (plane elasticity and one dimensional first order shear deformation theories).

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.671-690
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• 2016

This work presents a static flexure analysis of laminated composite plates by utilizing a higher order shear deformation theory in which the stretching effect is incorporated. The axial displacement field utilizes sinusoidal function in terms of thickness coordinate to consider the transverse shear deformation influence. The cosine function in thickness coordinate is employed in transverse displacement to introduce the influence of transverse normal strain. The highlight of the present method is that, in addition to incorporating the thickness stretching effect (${\varepsilon}_z{\neq}0$), the displacement field is constructed with only 5 unknowns, as against 6 or more in other higher order shear and normal deformation theory. Governing equations of the present theory are determined by employing the principle of virtual work. The closed-form solutions of simply supported cross-ply and angle-ply laminated composite plates have been obtained using Navier solution. The numerical results of present method are compared with those of the classical plate theory (CPT), first order shear deformation theory (FSDT), higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT) of Reddy, higher order shear and normal deformation theory (HSNDT) 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. It can be concluded that the proposed method is accurate and simple in solving the static bending response of laminated composite plates.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.385-410
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• 2017

This work presents a simple and refined nth-order shear deformation theory for mechanical and thermal buckling behaviors of functionally graded (FG) plates resting on elastic foundation. The proposed refined nth-order shear deformation theory has a new displacement field which includes undetermined integral terms and contains only four unknowns. Governing equations are obtained from the principle of minimum total potential energy. A Navier type analytical solution methodology is also presented for simply supported FG plates resting on elastic foundation which predicts accurate solution. The accuracy of the present model is checked by comparing the computed results with those obtained by classical plate theory (CPT), first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). Moreover, results demonstrate that the proposed theory can achieve the same accuracy of the existing HSDTs which have more number of variables.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.161-178
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• 2019

In this research, a simple quasi 3D hyperbolic shear deformation model is employed for bending and dynamic behavior of functionally graded (FG) plates resting on visco-Pasternak foundations. The important feature of this theory is that, it includes the thickness stretching effect with considering only 4 unknowns, which less than what is used in the First Order Shear Deformation (FSDT) theory. The visco­Pasternak's foundation is taken into account by adding the influence of damping to the usual foundation model which characterized by the linear Winkler's modulus and Pasternak's foundation modulus. The equations of motion for thick FG plates are obtained in the Hamilton principle. Analytical solutions for the bending and dynamic analysis are determined for simply supported plates resting on visco-Pasternak foundations. Some numerical results are presented to indicate the effects of material index, elastic foundation type, and damping coefficient of the foundation, on the bending and dynamic behavior of rectangular FG plates.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.4
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• pp.391-401
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• 2024

The present study focuses on the effect of extension-bending coupling on the elastic stability (buckling) of laminated composite plates. These plates will be loaded under uni-axial or bi-axial in-plane mechanical loads, especially in the orthotropic or anti-symmetric cross-angle cases. The main objective is to find a limit where we can approximate the elastic stability behavior of angularly crossed anti-symmetric plates by the simple behavior of specially orthotropic plates. The contribution of my present study is to predict the explicit effect of extension-flexion coupling on the elastic stability of this type of panel. Critically, a parametric study is carried out, involving the search for the critical buckling load as a function of deformation mode, aspect ratio, plate anisotropy ratio and finally the study of the effect of lamination angle and number of layers on the contribution of extension-flexure coupling in terms of plate buckling stability. We use first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) with a correction factor of 5/6. Simply supported conditions along the four boundaries are adopted where we can develop closed-form analytical solutions obtained by a Navier development.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.157-175
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• 2017

The novelty of this work is the use of a new displacement field that includes undetermined integral terms for analyzing thermal buckling response of functionally graded (FG) sandwich plates. The proposed kinematic uses only four variables, which is even less than the first shear deformation theory (FSDT) and the conventional higher shear deformation theories (HSDTs). The theory considers a trigonometric variation of transverse shear stress and verifies the traction free boundary conditions without employing the shear correction factors. Material properties of the sandwich plate faces are considered to be graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power-law variation in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The core layer is still homogeneous and made of an isotropic material. The thermal loads are assumed as uniform, linear and non-linear temperature rises within the thickness direction. An energy based variational principle is employed to derive the governing equations as an eigenvalue problem. The validation of the present work is checked by comparing the obtained results the available ones in the literature. The influences of aspect and thickness ratios, material index, loading type, and sandwich plate type on the critical buckling are all discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.503-516
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• 2019

This work presents a dynamic investigation of functionally graded (FG) plates resting on elastic foundation using a simple quasi-3D higher shear deformation theory (quasi-3D HSDT) in which the stretching effect is considered. The culmination of this theory is that in addition to taking into account the effect of thickness extension (${\varepsilon}_z{\neq}0$), the kinematic is defined with only 4 unknowns, which is even lower than the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The elastic foundation is included in the formulation using the Pasternak mathematical model. The governing equations are deduced through the Hamilton's principle. These equations are then solved via closed-type solutions of the Navier type. The fundamental frequencies are predicted by solving the eigenvalue problem. The degree of accuracy of present solutions can be shown by comparing it to the 3D solution and other closed-form solutions available in the literature.