A new sinusoidal shear deformation theory for bending,buckling, and vibration of functionally graded plates

A new sinusoidal shear deformation theory is developed for bending, buckling, and vibration of functionally graded plates. The theory accounts for sinusoidal distribution of transverse shear stress, and satisfies the free transverse shear stress conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factor. Unlike the conventional sinusoidal shear deformation theory, the proposed sinusoidal shear deformation theory contains only four unknowns and has strong similarities with classical plate theory in many aspects such as equations of motion, boundary conditions, and stress resultant expressions. The material properties of plate are assumed to vary according to power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents. Equations of motion are derived from the Hamilton’s principle. The closed-form solutions of simply supported plates are obtained and the results are compared with those of first-order shear deformation theory and higher-order shear deformation theory. It can be concluded that the proposed theory is accurate and efficient in predicting the bending, buckling, and vibration responses of functionally graded plates.     

Analytical solutions of refined plate theory for bending,buckling and vibration analyses of thick plates

Analytical solutions for bending, buckling, and vibration analyses of thick rectangular plates with various boundary conditions are presented using two variable refined plate theory. The theory accounts for parabolic variation of transverse shear stress through the thickness of the plate without using shear correction factor. In addition, it contains only two unknowns and has strong similarities with the classical plate theory in many aspects such as equations of motion, boundary conditions, and stress resultant expressions. Equations of motion are derived from Hamilton’s principle. Closed-form solutions of deflection, buckling load, and natural frequency are obtained for rectangular plates with two opposite edges simply supported and the other two edges having arbitrary boundary conditions. Comparison studies are presented to verify the validity of present solutions. It is found that the deflection, stress, buckling load, and natural frequency obtained by the present theory match well with those obtained by the first-order and third-order shear deformation theories.     

Free vibration of functionally graded rectangular plates using first-order shear deformation plate theory

The main objective of this research work is to present analytical solutions for free vibration analysis of moderately thick rectangular plates, which are composed of functionally graded materials (FGMs) and supported by either Winkler or Pasternak elastic foundations. The proposed rectangular plates have two opposite edges simply-supported, while all possible combinations of free, simply-supported and clamped boundary conditions are applied to the other two edges. In order to capture fundamental frequencies of the functionally graded (FG) rectangular plates resting on elastic foundation, the analysis procedure is based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) to derive and solve exactly the equations of motion. The mechanical properties of the FG plates are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness of the plate and obey a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents, whereas Poisson’s ratio is set to be constant. First, a new formula for the shear correction factors, used in the Mindlin plate theory, is obtained for FG plates. Then the excellent accuracy of the present analytical solutions is confirmed by making some comparisons of the results with those available in literature. The effect of foundation stiffness parameters on the free vibration of the FG plates, constrained by different combinations of classical boundary conditions, is also presented for various values of aspect ratios, gradient indices, and thickness to length ratios.     

Generalized shear deformation theory for bending analysis of functionally graded plates

In this study, the static response is presented for a simply supported functionally graded rectangular plate subjected to a transverse uniform load. The generalized shear deformation theory obtained by the author in other recent papers is used. This theory is simplified by enforcing traction-free boundary conditions at the plate faces. No transversal shear correction factors are needed because a correct representation of the transversal shearing strain is given. Material properties of the plate 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 equilibrium equations of a functionally graded plate are given based on a generalized shear deformation plate theory. The numerical illustrations concern bending response of functionally graded rectangular plates with two constituent materials. The influences played by transversal shear deformation, plate aspect ratio, side-to-thickness ratio, and volume fraction distributions are studied. The results are verified with the known results in the literature.     

Static response and free vibration analysis of FGM plates using higher order shear deformation theory

Free vibration and static analysis of functionally graded material (FGM) plates are studied using higher order shear deformation theory with a special modification in the transverse displacement in conjunction with finite element models. The mechanical properties of the plate are assumed to vary continuously in the thickness direction by a simple power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The fundamental equations for FGM plates are derived using variational approach by considering traction free boundary conditions on the top and bottom faces of the plate. Results have been obtained by employing a continuous isoparametric Lagrangian finite element with 13 degrees of freedom per node. Convergence tests and comparison studies have been carried out to demonstrate the efficiency of the present model. Numerical results for different thickness ratios, aspect ratios and volume fraction index with different boundary conditions have been presented. It is observed that the natural frequency parameter increases for plate aspect ratio, lower volume fraction index n and smaller thickness ratios. It is also observed that the effect of thickness ratio on the frequency of a plate is independent of the volume fraction index. For a given thickness ratio non-dimensional deflection increases as the volume fraction index increases. It is concluded that the gradient in the material properties plays a vital role in determining the response of the FGM plates.     

Bending,buckling and free vibration analysis of incompressible functionally graded plates using higher order shear and normal deformable plate theory

In the present study, higher order shear and normal deformable plate theory is developed for analysis of incompressible functionally graded rectangular thick plates. Also, The effect of incompressibility is studied on the static, dynamic and stability responses of thick plate. It is assumed that plate is incompressible and the incompressibility condition is considered in addition to the governing equations for determining the unknowns. Since the plate is thick, higher order shear and normal deformable theory is applied so that the Legendre polynomials are used for expansion of displacement field components in the thickness direction. Also, it is supposed that material properties vary through the thickness based on the power law function. Utilizing the variational approach, governing equations for static, stability and dynamic analysis of plate are derived. Resulted equations are solved analytically for simply supported plates. Finally, the effects of material properties and dimensions on the response of incompressible plates are investigated in details.     

Exact solutions for free flexural vibration of Lévy-type rectangular thick plates via third-order shear deformation plate theory

In this paper, exact closed-form solutions in explicit forms are presented for transverse vibration analysis of rectangular thick plates having two opposite edges hard simply supported (i.e., Lévy-type rectangular plates) based on the Reddy’s third-order shear deformation plate theory. Two other edges may be restrained by different combinations of free, soft simply supported, hard simply supported or clamped boundary conditions. Hamilton’s principle is used to derive the equations of motion and natural boundary conditions of the plate. Several comparison studies with analytical and numerical techniques reported in literature are carried out to demonstrate accuracy of the present new formulation. Comprehensive benchmark results for natural frequencies of rectangular plates with different combinations of boundary conditions are tabulated in dimensionless form for various values of aspect ratios and thickness to length ratios. A set of three-dimensional (3-D) vibration mode shapes along with their corresponding contour plots are plotted by using exact transverse displacements of Lévy-type rectangular Reddy plates. Due to the inherent features of the present exact closed-form solution, the present findings will be a useful benchmark for evaluating the accuracy of other analytical and numerical methods, which will be developed by researchers in the future.     

Levy-type solution for buckling analysis of thick functionally graded rectangular plates based on the higher-order shear deformation plate theory

In this article, an analytical approach for buckling analysis of thick functionally graded rectangular plates is presented. The equilibrium and stability equations are derived according to the higher-order shear deformation plate theory. Introducing an analytical method, the coupled governing stability equations of functionally graded plate are converted into two uncoupled partial differential equations in terms of transverse displacement and a new function, called boundary layer function. Using Levy-type solution these equations are solved for the functionally graded rectangular plate with two opposite edges simply supported under different types of loading conditions. The excellent accuracy of the present analytical solution is confirmed by making some comparisons of the present results with those available in the literature. Furthermore, the effects of power of functionally graded material, plate thickness, aspect ratio, loading types and boundary conditions on the critical buckling load of the functionally graded rectangular plate are studied and discussed in details. The critical buckling loads of thick functionally graded rectangular plates with various boundary conditions are reported for the first time and can be used as benchmark.     

An efficient mixed methodology for free vibration and buckling analysis of orthotropic rectangular plates

In this paper, a simple and efficient mixed Ritz-differential quadrature (DQ) method is presented for free vibration and buckling analysis of orthotropic rectangular plates. The mixed scheme combines the simplicity of the Ritz method and high accuracy and efficiency of the DQ method. The accuracy of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing the calculated results with those available in the literature. It is shown that highly accurate results can be obtained using a small number of Ritz terms and DQ sample points. The proposed method is suitable for the problem considered due to its simplicity and potential for further development.     

On the bending of plates with transverse shear deformation and mixed periodic boundary conditions

The method of matched asymptotic expansions is used to find a homogenized problem whose solution is an approximation to the solution of a mixed periodic boundary value problem in the theory of bending of thin elastic plates. A critical size for the fixed parts of the boundary is found such that the boundary condition of the homogenized problem is an intermediate case between that for the clamped edge plate and that for the free boundary plate.     

Free vibration and buckling analyses of composite plates with straight-sided quadrilateral domain based on DSC approach

Discrete singular convolution (DSC) method has been proposed to obtain the frequencies and buckling loads of composite plates. By using geometric transformation, the straight-sided quadrilateral domain is mapped into a square domain in the computational space using a four-node element. Plates having different geometries such as rectangular, skew, trapezoidal and rhombic plates are presented. The obtained results are compared with those of other numerical methods. Numerical results indicate that the DSC is a simple, accurate and reliable algorithm for vibration and buckling analyses of composite plates.     

A mixed method for free and forced vibration of rectangular plates

This paper presents a very first combined application of Ritz method and differential quadrature (DQ) method to vibration problem of rectangular plates. In this study, the spatial partial derivatives with respect to a coordinate direction are first discretized using the Ritz method. The resulting system of partial differential equations and the related boundary conditions are then discretized in strong form using the DQ method. The mixed method combines the simplicity of the Ritz method and high accuracy and efficiency of the DQ method. The results are obtained for various types of boundary conditions. Comparisons are made with existing analytical and numerical solutions in the literature. Numerical results prove that the present method is very suitable for the problem considered due to its simplicity, efficiency, and high accuracy.     

Stress and strain-inertia gradient elasticity in free vibration analysis of single walled carbon nanotubes with first order shear deformation shell theory

A gradient-enriched shell formulation is introduced in the present study based on the first order shear deformation shell model and the stress gradient and strain-inertia gradient elasticity theories are used for dynamic analysis of single walled carbon nanotubes. It provides extensions of the first order shear deformation shell formulation with additional higher-order spatial derivatives of strains and stresses. The higher-order terms are introduced in the formulation by using the Laplacian of the corresponding lower-order terms. The proposed shell formulation includes two length scale size parameters related to the strain gradients and inertia gradients. The effects of the transverse shear, aspect ratio, circumferential and half-axial wave numbers and length scale parameters on different vibration modes of the single-walled carbon nanotubes are elucidated. The results are also compared with those obtained from a classical shell theory with Sanders–Koiter strain-displacement relationships.     

Analysis of laminated composite plates using higher-order shear deformation plate theory and node-based smoothed discrete shear gap method

This paper presents a novel finite element formulation for static, free vibration and buckling analyses of laminated composite plates. The idea relies on a combination of node-based smoothing discrete shear gap method with the higher-order shear deformation plate theory (HSDT) to give a so-called NS-DSG3 element. The higher-order shear deformation plate theory (HSDT) is introduced in the present method to remove the shear correction factors and improve the accuracy of transverse shear stresses. The formulation uses only linear approximations and its implementation into finite element programs is quite simple and efficient. The numerical examples demonstrated that the present element is free of shear locking and shows high reliability and accuracy compared to other published solutions in the literature.     

A simple four-unknown refined theory for bending analysis of functionally graded plates

In the present paper, a refined trigonometric higher-order plate theory is simply derived, which satisfies the free surface conditions. Moreover, the number of unknowns of this theory is the least one comparing with other shear theories. The effects of transverse shear strains as well as the transverse normal strain are taken into account. The number of unknown functions involved in the present theory is only four as against six or more in case of other shear and normal deformation theories. The bending response of FG rectangular plates is presented. A comparison with the corresponding results is made to check the accuracy and efficiency of the present theory. Additional results for all displacements and stresses are investigated through-the-thickness of the FG rectangular plate.     

A new Chebyshev spectral approach for vibration of in-plane functionally graded Mindlin plates with variable thickness

This paper presents a new and simple approach for vibration analysis of in-plane functionally graded (IPFG) plates with variable thickness based on the Chebyshev spectral method. Both the material properties and the thickness which vary in the plane of the plate are approximated by high-order Chebyshev expansions. Gauss-Lobatto sampling is adopted for spatial discretization. A consistent governing equation in discrete form is derived by utilizing Lagrange’s equation for all kinds of IPFG plates whose material property functions and thickness function are square-integrable and infinitely differentiable in the domain. Its mass matrix is diagonal and stiffness matrix is symmetric. Classical and point-supported boundary conditions are incorporated through projection matrices. This approach is independent of the type of material gradation, meshfree, and flexible to adjust the computation cost and precision according to needs. A series of numerical examples involving different kinds of material gradations, thickness variations, and boundary conditions are carried out to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. The results obtained from the present method show a good convergence and agree with those in literature very well.     

Buckling and free vibration analyses of laminated composite plates by using two new hyperbolic shear-deformation theories

Two new hyperbolic displacement models, HPSDT1 and HPSDT2, are used for the buckling and free vibration analyses of simply supported orthotropic laminated composite plates. The models contain hyperbolic expressions to account for the parabolic distributions of transverse shear stresses and to satisfy the zero shear-stress conditions at the top and bottom surfaces of the plates. The equation of motion for thick laminated rectangular plates subjected to in-plane loads is deduced through the use of Hamilton’s principle. Closed-form solutions are obtained by using the Navier technique, and then the buckling loads and the fundamental frequencies are found by solving eigenvalue problems. The accuracy of the models presented is demonstrated by comparing the results obtained with solutions of other higher-order models given in the literature. It is found that the theories proposed can predict the fundamental frequencies and buckling loads of cross-ply laminated composite plates rather accurately. Russian translation published in Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 217–230, March–April, 2008.     

Thermal buckling and post-buckling analysis of functionally graded beams based on a general higher-order shear deformation theory

In the present work, attention is focused on the prediction of thermal buckling and post-buckling behaviors of functionally graded materials (FGM) beams based on Euler–Bernoulli, Timoshenko and various higher-order shear deformation beam theories. Two ends of the beam are assumed to be clamped and in-plane boundary conditions are immovable. The beam is subjected to uniform temperature rise and temperature dependency of the constituents is also taken into account. The governing equations are developed relative to neutral plane and mid-plane of the beam. A two-step perturbation method is employed to determine the critical buckling loads and post-buckling equilibrium paths. New results of thermal buckling and post-buckling analysis of the beams are presented and discussed in details, the numerical analysis shows that, for the case of uniform temperature rise loading, the post-buckling equilibrium path for FGM beam with two clamped ends is also of the bifurcation type for any arbitrary value of the power law index and any various displacement fields.     

Levy-type solution for free vibration analysis of orthotropic plates based on two variable refined plate theory

Closed-form solutions for free vibration analysis of orthotropic plates are obtained in this paper based on two variable refined plate theory. The theory, which has strong similarity with classical plate theory in many aspects, accounts for a quadratic variation of the transverse shear strains across the thickness, and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factors. Equations of motion are derived from the Hamilton’s principle. The closed-form solutions of rectangular plates with two opposite edges simply supported and the other two edges having arbitrary boundary conditions are obtained by applying the state space approach to the Levy-type solution. Comparison studies are performed to verify the validity of the present results. The effects of boundary condition, and variations of modulus ratio, aspect ratio, and thickness ratio on the natural frequency of orthotropic plates are investigated and discussed in detail.