A finite element study on the large amplitude flexural vibration characteristics of FGM plates under aerodynamic load

The large amplitude flexural vibration characteristics of functionally graded material (FGM) plates are investigated here using a shear flexible finite element approach. Material properties of the plate are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power-law distribution in terms of volume fractions of the constituents. The effective material properties are then evaluated based on the rule of mixture. The FGM plate is modeled using the first-order shear deformation theory based on exact neutral surface position and von Kármán’s assumptions for large displacement. The third-order piston theory is employed to evaluate the aerodynamic pressure. The governing equations of motion are solved by harmonic balance method to study the vibration amplitude of FGM plates under supersonic air flow. Thereafter, the non-linear equations of motion are solved using Newmark’s time integration technique to understand the flexural vibration behavior of FGM plates in time domain (simple harmonic or periodic or quasi-periodic). This work is new in the sense that it deals with the non-linear flutter characteristics of FGM plates under high supersonic airflow accounting for both the geometric and aerodynamic non-linearities. Some parametric study is conducted to understand the influence of these non-linearities on the flutter characteristics of FGM plates.     

Creep buckling and post-buckling analysis of the laminated piezoelectric viscoelastic functionally graded plates

The creep buckling and post-buckling of the laminated piezoelectric viscoelastic functionally graded material (FGM) plates are studied in this research. Considering the transverse shear deformation and geometric nonlinearity, the Von Karman geometric relation of the laminated piezoelectric viscoelastic FGM plates with initial deflection is established. And then nonlinear creep governing equations of the laminated piezoelectric viscoelastic FGM plates subjected to an in-plane compressive load are derived on the basis of the elastic piezoelectric theory and Boltzmann superposition principle. Applying the finite difference method and the Newmark scheme, the whole problem is solved by the iterative method. In numerical examples, the effects of geometric nonlinearity, transverse shear deformation, the applied electric load, the volume fraction and the geometric parameters on the creep buckling and post-buckling of laminated piezoelectric viscoelastic FGM plates with initial deflection are investigated.     

An analytical study on the nonlinear vibration of functionally graded beams

Nonlinear vibration of beams made of functionally graded materials (FGMs) is studied in this paper based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and von Kármán geometric nonlinearity. It is assumed that material properties follow either exponential or power law distributions through thickness direction. Galerkin procedure is used to obtain a second order nonlinear ordinary equation with quadratic and cubic nonlinear terms. The direct numerical integration method and Runge-Kutta method are employed to find the nonlinear vibration response of FGM beams with different end supports. The effects of material property distribution and end supports on the nonlinear dynamic behavior of FGM beams are discussed. It is found that unlike homogeneous beams, FGM beams show different vibration behavior at positive and negative amplitudes due to the presence of quadratic nonlinear term arising from bending-stretching coupling effect.     

Nonlinear vibration analysis of piezo-thermo-electrically actuated functionally graded circular plates

A theoretical model for geometrically nonlinear vibration analysis of thermo-piezoelectrically actuated circular plates made of functionally grade material (FGM) is presented based on Kirchhoff’s–Love hypothesis with von-Karman type geometrical large nonlinear deformations. The material properties of the FG core plate are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to the power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. Dynamic equations and boundary conditions including thermal, elastic and piezoelectric couplings are formulated and solutions are derived. An exact series expansion method combined with perturbation approach is used to model the nonlinear thermo-electro-mechanical vibration behavior of the structure. Control of the FG plate’s nonlinear deflections and natural frequencies using high control voltages is studied and their nonlinear effects are evaluated. Numerical results for FG plates with various mixtures of ceramic and metal are presented in dimensionless forms. A parametric study is also undertaken to highlight the effects of the thermal environment, applied actuator voltage and material composition of the FG core plate on the nonlinear vibration characteristics of the composite structure.     

横向裂缝对功能梯度板的热响应影响

采用条单元法分析了横向裂缝对功能梯度板热响应的影响。研究了功能梯度板的材料属性沿板厚方向连续线性变化时,温度变化热源作用于带横向裂缝的功能梯度板的问题（此热源沿板厚方向连续线性变化）。通过研究不同频率温度变化热源,得到了当量纲为一的温度变化热源频率为3.14时,功能梯度板上表面出现的位移响应比较均匀;通过研究裂缝长度取H、3H、5H时出现的位移响应,得到了根据位移响应特性判断裂缝长度的方法;通过对不同深度裂缝的研究表明：裂缝越深,上表面位移响应强度越小。本研究对带横向裂缝的功能梯度板的热响应问题具有一定的指导意义。     

Nonlinear Transient Response of Functionally Graded Material Sandwich Doubly Curved Shallow Shell Using New Displacement Field

In this paper, the nonlinear transient dynamic response of functionally graded material(FGM) sandwich doubly curved shell with homogenous isotropic material core and functionally graded face sheet is analyzed using a new displacement field on the basis of Reddy's third-order shear theory for the first time. The equivalent material properties for the FGM face sheet are assumed to obey the rule of simple power law function in the thickness direction.Based on Reddy'stheory of higher shear deformation, a new displacement field is developed by introducing the secant function into transverse displacement. Four coupled nonlinear differential equations are obtained by applying Hamilton's principle and Galerkin method. It is assumed that the FGM sandwich doubly curved shell is subjected to step loading, air-blast loading,triangular loading, and sinusoidal loading, respectively. On the basis of double-precision variablecoefficient ordinary differential equation solver, a new program code in FORTRAN software is developed to solve the nonlinear transient dynamics of the system. The influences of core thickness, volume fraction, core-to-face sheet thickness ratio, width-to-thickness ratio and blast type on the transient response of the shell are discussed in detail through numerical simulation.     

Nonlinear dynamic response of a functionally graded plate with a through-width surface crack

A nonlinear vibration analysis of a simply supported functionally graded rectangular plate with a through-width surface crack is presented in this paper. The plate is subjected to a transverse excitation force. Material properties are graded in the thickness direction according to exponential distributions. The cracked plate is treated as an assembly of two sub-plates connected by a rotational spring at the cracked section whose stiffness is calculated through stress intensity factor. Based on Reddy’s third-order shear deformation plate theory, the nonlinear governing equations of motion for the FGM plate are derived by using the Hamilton’s principle. The deflection of each sub-plate is assumed to be a combination of the first two mode shape functions with unknown constants to be determined from boundary and compatibility conditions. The Galerkin’s method is then utilized to convert the governing equations to a two-degree-of-freedom nonlinear system including quadratic and cubic nonlinear terms under the external excitation, which is numerically solved to obtain the nonlinear responses of cracked FGM rectangular plates. The influences of material property gradient, crack depth, crack location and plate thickness ratio on the vibration frequencies and transient response of the surface-racked FGM plate are discussed in detail through a parametric study.     

Postbuckling of FGM plates with piezoelectric actuators under thermo-electro-mechanical loadings

A postbuckling analysis is presented for a simply supported, shear deformable functionally graded plate with piezoelectric actuators subjected to the combined action of mechanical, electrical and thermal loads. The temperature field considered is assumed to be of uniform distribution over the plate surface and through the plate thickness and the electric field considered only has non-zero-valued component E_Z. The material properties of functionally graded materials (FGMs) 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, and the material properties of both FGM and piezoelectric layers are assumed to be temperature-dependent. The governing equations are based on a higher order shear deformation plate theory that includes thermo-piezoelectric effects. The initial geometric imperfection of the plate is taken into account. Two cases of the in-plane boundary conditions are considered. A two step perturbation technique is employed to determine buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. The numerical illustrations concern the postbuckling behavior of perfect and imperfect, geometrically mid-plane symmetric FGM plates with fully covered or embedded piezoelectric actuators under different sets of thermal and electric loading conditions. The effects played by temperature rise, volume fraction distribution, applied voltage, the character of in-plane boundary conditions, as well as initial geometric imperfections are studied.     

竖向裂缝对功能梯度板的热响应影响

采用条单元法分析了竖向裂缝对功能梯度板的热响应影响。功能梯度板的材料属性沿板厚方向连续线性变化,温度变化热源作用于带竖向裂缝的功能梯度板上。通过研究得出了裂缝距离热源不同位置、不同长度裂缝及不同频率温度变化热源等状态时,功能梯度板上表面的热响应情况。采用条单元法研究带竖向裂缝的功能梯度板的热响应问题,为带裂缝的功能梯度板的热研究提供了一定的指导。     

Stochastic thermoelastic problem of a functionally graded plate under random temperature load

This study attempts to derive the statistics of temperature and thermal stress in functionally graded material (FGM) plates exposed to random external temperatures. The thermomechanical properties of the FGM plates are assumed to vary arbitrarily only in the plate thickness direction. The external temperatures are expressed as random functions with respect to time. The transient temperature field in the FGM plate is determined by solving a nonhomogeneous heat conduction problem for a multilayered plate with linear nonhomogeneous thermal conductivity and different homogeneous heat capacity in each layer. The autocorrelations and power spectrum densities (PSDs) of temperature and thermal stress are derived analytically. These statistics for FGM plates composed of partially stabilised zirconia (PSZ) and austenitic stainless steel (SUS304) are computed under the condition that the fluctuation in the external temperature can be considered as white noise or a stationary Markov process.     

Rotating sandwich cylindrical shells with an FGM core and two FGPM layers: free vibration analysis

The free vibration analysis of a rotating cylindrical shell with an analytical method is investigated. The shell is considered as a sandwich structure, where the middle layer is a functionally graded material(FGM) shell, and it is surrounded by two piezoelectric layers. Considering piezoelectric materials to be functionally graded(FG),the material properties vary along the thickness direction as one innovation of this study.Applying the first-order shear deformation theory(FSDT), the equations of motion of this electromechanical system are derived as the partial differential equations(PDEs) using Hamilton's principle. Then, the Galerkin procedure is used to discretize the governing equations, and the present results are compared with the previously published results for both isotropic and FGM shells to verify the analytical method. Finally, the effects of FGM and functionally graded piezoelectric material(FGPM) properties as well as the thickness ratio and the axial and circumferential wave numbers on the natural frequencies are studied. Moreover, the Campbell diagram is plotted and discussed through the governing equations. The present results show that increasing the non-homogeneous index of the FGM decreases the natural frequencies on the contrary of the effect of non-homogeneous index of the FGPM.     

Circumferential wave in magneto-electro-elastic functionally graded cylindrical curved plates

Piezoelectric-piezomagnetic functionally graded materials (FGM), with a gradual change of the mechanical and electromagnetic properties, have greatly applying promises. Based on Legendre orthogonal polynomial series expansion approach, a dynamic solution is presented for the propagation of circumferential harmonic waves in piezoelectric-piezomagnetic FGM cylindrical curved plates. The materials properties are assumed to vary in the direction of the thickness according to a known variation law. The dispersion curves of the piezoelectric-piezomagnetic FGM cylindrical curved plate and the corresponding non-piezoelectric and non-piezomagnetic cylindrical curved plates are calculated to show the influences of the piezoelectricity and piezomagnetism. Electric potential and magnetic potential distributions are also obtained to illustrate the different influences of the piezoelectricity and piezomagnetism. Finally, a cylindrical curved plate at a different ratio of radius to thickness is calculated to show the influence of the ratio on the piezoelectric effect and piezomagnetic effect.     

The wave propagation and dynamic response of rectangular functionally graded material plates with completed clamped supports under impulse load

In this paper, the wave propagation and dynamic response of the rectangular FGM plates with completed clamped supports under impulse load are analyzed. The effective material properties of functionally graded materials (FGMs) for the plate are assumed to vary continuously through the plate thickness and be distributed according to a volume fraction power law along the plate thickness. Considering the effects of transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia, the governing equations of the wave propagation in the functionally graded plate are derived by using the Hamilton’s principle. A complete discussion of dispersion of the FGM plates is given. Using the dispersion relation and integral transforms, exact integral solutions for the FGM plates under impulse load are obtained. The influence of volume fraction distributions on wave propagation and dynamic response of the FGM plates is analyzed.     

Buckling and post-buckling analyses for an axially compressed laminated cylindrical shell of FGM with PFRC in thermal environments

In this paper, investigation on buckling and post-buckling behaviors of a laminated cylindrical shell of functionally graded material (FGM) with the piezoelectric fiber reinforced composite (PFRC) actuators subjected to thermal and axial compressed loads is presented. Based on the Donnell assumptions, the material properties of the FGM layer vary smoothly through the laminated cylindrical shell thickness according to a power law distribution of the volume fraction of constituent materials. In the present study, a numerical procedure for the laminated cylindrical shell is used based on the Ritz energy method and the nonlinear strain–displacement relations. Some useful discussion and numerical examples are presented to show various effects of temperature field, volume fraction and geometric parameters on the buckling and post-buckling behaviors of the laminated cylindrical shell with PFRC.     

Buckling analysis of sandwich plates with FGM face sheets resting on elastic foundation with various boundary conditions: an analytical approach

This paper presents an analytical investigation on the buckling analysis of symmetric sandwich plates with functionally graded material (FGM) face sheets resting on an elastic foundation based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) and subjected to mechanical, thermal and thermo-mechanical loads. 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 core layer is still homogeneous and made of an isotropic material. An analytical approach is used to reduce the governing equations of stability and then solved using an analytical solution which is named as power series Frobenius method for symmetric sandwich plates with six different boundary conditions. A detailed numerical study is carried out to examine the influence of the plate aspect ratio, side-to-thickness ratio, loading type, sandwich plate type, volume fraction index, elastic foundation coefficients and boundary conditions on the buckling response of FGM sandwich plates. This has not been done before and serves to fill the gap of knowledge in this area.     

NONLINEAR DYNAMICS OF A FGM PLATE WITH TWO CLAMPED OPPOSITE EDGES AND TWO FREE EDGES

This paper deals with the nonlinear forced vibration of FGM rectangular plate with a boundary of two edges clamped opposite and the other two free. The plate is subjected to transversal and in-plane excitations. The present research treats the material properties of the FGM plates as temperature-dependent and graded continuously throughout the thickness direction, following the volume fraction of the constituent materials according to the power law. The temperature is assumed to be constant in the plane and varied only in the thickness direction of the plate. In the framework of geometrical nonlinearity the plate is modeled and the equations of motion are obtained on Hamilton＇s principle. With the help of Galerkin discretization, the nonlinear ordinary differential equations describing transverse vibration of the plate are proposed. By the numerical method, the nonlinear dynamical responses of the FGM plate with two clamped opposite and two free edges are analyzed.     

Mechanical behavior of functionally graded material plates under transverse load—Part I: Analysis

An elastic, rectangular, and simply supported, functionally graded material (FGM) plate of medium thickness subjected to transverse loading has been investigated. The Poisson’s ratios of the FGM plates are assumed to be constant, but their Young’s moduli vary continuously throughout the thickness direction according to the volume fraction of constituents defined by power-law, sigmoid, or exponential function. Based on the classical plate theory and Fourier series expansion, the series solutions of power-law FGM (simply called P-FGM), sigmoid FGM (S-FGM), and exponential FGM (E-FGM) plates are obtained. The analytical solutions of P-, S- and E-FGM plates are proved by the numerical results of finite element method. The closed-form solutions illustrated by Fourier series expression are given in Part I of this paper. The closed-form and finite element solutions are compared and discussed in Part II of this paper. Results reveal that the formulations of the solutions of FGM plates and homogeneous plates are similar, except the bending stiffness of plates. The bending stiffness of a homogeneous plate is Eh³/12(1 − ν²), while the expressions of the bending stiffness of FGM plates are more complicated combination of material properties.     

Mathematical solution for nonlinear cylindrical bending of sigmoid functionally graded plates

Problems of nonlinear cylindrical bending of sigmoid functionally graded plates in which material properties vary through the thickness are considered. The variation of the material properties follows two power-law distributions in terms of the volume fractions of constituents. The nonlinear strain-displacement relations in the von Kármán sense are used to study the effect of geometric nonlinearity. The governing equations are reduced to a linear differential equation with nonlinear boundary conditions, yielding a simple solution procedure. Numerical results are presented to show the effect of the material distribution on the deflections and stresses.     

Nonlinear axisymmetric thermomechanical response of piezo-FGM shallow spherical shells

Thermomechanical instability of shallow spherical shells made of functionally graded material (FGM) and surface-bonded piezoelectric actuators is studied in this paper. The governing equations are based on the classical shell theory of shells and the Sanders nonlinear kinematics equations. It is assumed that the property of the FGMs varies continuously through the thickness of the shell according to a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituent materials. The constituent materials of the functionally graded shell are assumed to be mixture of ceramic and metal. The analytical solutions are obtained for uniform external pressure, thermal loading, and constant applied actuator voltage.     

Thermal-induced snap-through buckling of simply-supported functionally graded beams

The instability of functionally graded material (FGM) structures is one of the major threats to their service safety in engineering applications. This paper aims to clarify a long-standing controversy on the thermal instability type of simply-supported FGM beams. First, based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and von Kármán geometric nonlinearity, a nonlinear governing equation of simply-supported FGM beams under uniform thermal loads by Zhang's two-variable method is formulated. Second, an approximate analytic solution to the nonlinear integro-differential boundary value problem under a thermal-induced inhomogeneous force boundary condition is obtained by using a semiinverse method when the coordinate axis is relocated to the bending axis (physical neutral plane), and then the analytical predictions are verified by the differential quadrature method (DQM). Finally, based on the free energy theorem, it is revealed that the symmetry breaking caused by the material inhomogeneity can make the simply-supported FGM beam under uniform thermal loads occur snap-through postbuckling only in odd modes; furthermore, the nonlinear critical load of thermal buckling varies non-monotonically with the functional gradient index due to the stretching-bending coupling effect. These results are expected to provide new ideas and references for the design and regulation of FGM structures.