Bending of functionally graded cantilever beam with power-law non-linearity subjected to an end force

A realistic beam structure often exhibits material and geometrical non-linearity, in particular for those made of metals. The mechanical behaviors of a non-linear functionally graded-material (FGM) cantilever beam subjected to an end force are investigated by using large and small deformation theories. Young's modulus is assumed to be depth-dependent. For an FGM beam of power-law hardening, the location of the neutral axis is determined. The effects of depth-dependent Young's modulus and non-linearity parameter on the deflections and rotations of the FGM beams are analyzed. Our results show that different gradient indexes may change the bending stiffness of the beam so that an FGM beam may bear larger applied load than a homogeneous beam when choosing appropriate gradients. Moreover, the bending stress distribution in an FGM beam is completely different from that in a homogeneous beam. The bending stress arrives at the maximum tensile stress at an internal position rather than at the surface. Obtained results are useful in safety design of linear and non-linear beams.     

Micromechanics-based thermoelastic model for functionally graded particulate materials with particle interactions

Thermoelastic behavior of functionally graded particulate materials is investigated with a micromechanical approach. Based on a special representative volume element constructed to represent the graded microstructure of a macroscopic material point, the relation between the averaged strains of the particle and matrix phases is derived with pair-wise particle interactions, and a set of governing equations for the thermoelastic behavior of functionally graded materials is presented. The effective coefficient of thermal expansion at a material point is solved through the overall averaged strain of two phases induced by temperature change under the stress-free condition, and is shown to exhibit a weak anisotropy due to the particle interactions within the graded microstructure. When the material gradient is eliminated, the proposed model predicts the effective coefficient of thermal expansion for uniform composites as expected. If the particle interactions are disregarded, the proposed model recovers the Kerner model. The proposed semi-analytical scheme is consistent and general, and can handle any thermal loading variation. As examples, the thermal stress distributions of graded thermal barrier coatings are solved for two types of thermal loading: uniform temperature change and steady-state heat conduction in the gradation direction.     

Non-axisymmetric thermal stress of a functionally graded coated circular inclusion in an infinite matrix

This paper is to study the non-axisymmetric two-dimensional problem of thermal stresses in an infinite matrix with a functionally graded coated circular inclusion based on complex variable method. With using the method of piece-wise homogeneous layers, the general solution for the functionally graded coating having radial arbitrary elastic properties is derived when the matrix is subjected to uniform heat flux at infinity, and then numerical results are presented for several special examples. It is found that the existence of the functionally graded coating can change interfacial thermal stresses, and choosing proper change ways of the radial elastic properties in the coating can obviously reduce the thermal stresses.     

The nonlocal solution of two parallel cracks in functionally graded materials subjected to harmonic anti-plane shear waves

In this paper, the dynamic interaction of two parallel cracks in functionally graded materials (FGMs) is investigated by means of the non-local theory. To make the analysis tractable, the shear modulus and the material density are assumed to vary exponentially with the coordinate vertical to the crack. To reduce mathematical difficulties, a one-dimensional non-local kernel is used instead of a two-dimensional one for the dynamic problem to obtain stress fields near the crack tips. By use of the Fourier transform, the problem can be solved with the help of two pairs of dual integral equations, in which the unknown variables are the jumps of displacements across the crack surfaces. To solve the dual integral equations, the jumps of displacements across the crack surfaces are expanded in a series of Jacobi polynomials. Unlike the classical elasticity solutions, it is found that no stress singularity is present at the crack tips. The non-local elastic solutions yield a finite hoop stress at the crack tips. The present result provides theoretical references helpful for evaluating relevant strength and preventing material failure of FGMs with initial cracks. The magnitude of the finite stress field depends on relevant parameters, such as the crack length, the distance between two parallel cracks, the parameter describing the FGMs, the frequency of the incident waves and the lattice parameter of materials. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (90405016, 10572044) and the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20040213034). The English text was polished by Yunming Chen.     

The interaction of two parallel Mode-I limited-permeable cracks in a functionally graded piezoelectric material

In this paper, the interaction of two parallel Mode-I limited-permeable cracks in a functionally graded piezoelectric material was investigated by using the generalized Almansi's theorem. In the analysis, the electric permittivity of the air inside the crack was considered. The problem was formulated through Fourier transform into two pairs of dual integral equations, in which unknown variables are jumps of displacements across the crack surface. To solve the dual integral equations, the jumps of displacements across the crack surfaces were directly expanded as a series of Jacobi polynomials. The solution of the present paper shows that the singular stresses and the singular electric displacements at the crack tips in functionally graded piezoelectric materials carry the same forms as those in homogeneous piezoelectric materials; however, the magnitudes of intensity factors depend on the electric permittivity of the air inside the crack and the gradient parameter of functionally graded piezoelectric material properties. It was also revealed that the crack shielding effect is also present in functionally graded piezoelectric materials.     

Long-wave asymptotic theories: The connection between functionally graded waveguides and periodic media

This article explores the deep connections that exist between the mathematical representations of dynamic phenomena in functionally graded waveguides and those in periodic media. These connections are at their most obvious for low-frequency and long-wave asymptotics where well established theories hold. However, there is also a complementary limit of high-frequency long-wave asymptotics corresponding to various features that arise near cut-off frequencies in waveguides, including trapped modes. Simultaneously, periodic media exhibit standing wave frequencies, and the long-wave asymptotics near these frequencies characterise localised defect modes along with other high-frequency phenomena. The physics associated with waveguides and periodic media are, at first sight, apparently quite different, however the final equations that distill the essential physics are virtually identical. The connection is illustrated by the comparative study of a periodic string and a functionally graded acoustic waveguide.     

Transient thermal stress analysis of a functionally graded magneto-electro-thermoelastic strip due to nonuniform surface heating

This article is concerned with the theoretical analysis of the functionally graded magneto-electro-thermoelastic strip due to unsteady and nonuniform surface heating in the width direction. We analyze the transient thermal stress problem for a functionally graded strip constructed of the anisotropic and linear magneto-electro-thermoelastic materials using a laminated composite mode as one of theoretical approximation. The transient two-dimensional temperature is analyzed by the methods of Laplace and finite sine transformations. We obtain the solution for the simply supported and functionally graded magneto-electro-thermoelastic strip under a plane strain state. As an illustration, we carried out numerical calculations for a functionally graded strip composed of piezoelectric BaTiO₃ and magnetostrictive CoFe₂O₄, and examined the behaviors in the transient state for temperature change, stress, electric potential and magnetic potential distributions. Furthermore, the effects of the nonhomogeneity of material on the stresses, electric potential, and magnetic potential are investigated.     

On the screw dislocation in a functionally graded material

This paper presents the stress field of a screw dislocation in a medium graded in y-direction. The medium is exponentially graded. For such a graded material theories of elasticity as well as gradient elasticity are applied. By means of the stress function technique we found exact analytical solutions of the corresponding master equations. Using the stress field, the Peach–Koehler force is given. The axial symmetry of a screw dislocation is lost due to the gradation in the y-direction.     

A mode III crack in functionally graded piezoelectric materials

This paper considers the mode III crack problem in functionally graded piezoelectric materials. The mechanical and the electrical properties of the medium are considered for a class of functional forms for which the equilibrium equations have an analytical solution. The problem is solved by means of singular integral equation technique. Both a single crack and a series of collinear cracks are investigated. The results are plotted to show the effect of the material inhomogeneity on the stress and the electric displacement intensity factors.     

Thermo-elastic optimization of material distribution of functionally graded structures by an isogeometrical approach

A new isogeometrical procedure for optimization of material composition of functionally graded structures in thermo-mechanical processes is introduced. The proposed method employs a generalized form of the standard isogeometric analysis method, allowing for gradation of material properties through patches. The variations of material properties are captured in a fully isogeometric formulation using the same NURBS basis functions employed for construction of the geometry and approximation of the solution. Subsequently, the applicates of control points that define the surfaces of volume fractions of the constituents are considered as the design variables and obtained by solving the optimization problem using a mathematical programming algorithm. Some numerical examples under thermal and mechanical loadings are considered to demonstrate the performance and applicability of the proposed method. Comparison of the obtained results with those of the other existing approaches such as finite elements and meshfree methods verifies the presented results. It will be seen that the proposed procedure considerably removes the difficulties of the existing methods and provides a promising tool for material design of functionally graded structures.     

Hybrid graded element model for transient heat conduction in functionally graded materials

This paper presents a hybrid graded element model for the transient heat conduction problem in functionally graded materials (FGMs). First, a Laplace transform approach is used to handle the time variable. Then, a fundamental solution in Laplace space for FGMs is constructed. Next, a hybrid graded element is formulated based on the obtained fundamental solution and a frame field. As a result, the graded properties of FGMs are naturally reflected by using the fundamental solution to interpolate the intra-element field. Further, Stefest’s algorithm is employed to convert the results in Laplace space back into the time-space domain. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is assessed by several benchmark examples. The results demonstrate well the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.     

Love waves in functionally graded piezoelectric materials

To investigate the features of Love waves in a layered functionally graded piezoelectric structure, the mathematical model is established on the basis of the elastic wave theory, and the WKB method is applied to solve the coupled electromechanical field differential equation. The solutions of the mechanical displacement and electrical potential function are obtained for the piezoelectric layer and elastic substrate. The dispersion relations of Love waves are deduced for electric open and short cases on the free surface respectively. The actual piezoelectric layer–elastic substrate systems are taken into account, and some corresponding numerical examples are proposed comparatively. Thus, the effects of the gradient variation about material constants on the phase velocity, the group velocity, the coupled electromechanical factor and the cutoff frequency are discussed in detail. So the propagation behaviors of Love waves in inhomogeneous medium is revealed, and the dispersion and the anti-dispersion are analyzed. The conclusions are significant both theoretically and practically for the surface acoustic wave devices.     

Dynamic stress of a circular cavity buried in a semi-infinite functionally graded piezoelectric material subjected to shear waves

The paper presents a theoretical method to investigate the multiple scattering of shear waves and dynamic stress around a circular cavity in a semi-infinite functionally graded piezoelectric material. The analytical solutions of wave fields are expressed by employing wave function expansion method and the expanded mode coefficients are determined by satisfying the boundary conditions of the cavity. Image method is used to satisfy the free boundary condition of the semi-infinite structure. According to the analytical expression of this problem, the numerical solutions of the dynamic stress concentration factor around the cavity are presented. The effects of the piezoelectric property, the buried depth of the cavity, the incident wave number and the nonhomogeneous parameter of materials on the dynamic stress around the cavity are analyzed. Analyses show that the piezoelectric property has great effect on the dynamic stress in the region of intermediate frequency and the effect increases with increasing wave number. When the nonhomogeneous parameter of materials is less than zero, it has less influence on the maximum dynamic stress around the cavity; however, it has greater influence on the distribution of the dynamic stress around the cavity. When the nonhomogeneous parameter of materials is greater than zero, it has greater influence on both the maximum dynamic stress and the distribution of dynamic stress around the cavity, especially in the case that the buried depth is comparatively small.     

The transient fracture behavior for a functionally graded layered structure subjected to an in-plane impact load

The transient fracture behavior of a functionally graded layered structure subjected to an in-plane impact load is investigated. The studied structure is composed of two homogeneous layers and a functionally graded interlayer with a crack perpendicular to the boundaries. The impact load is applied on the face of the crack. Fourier transform and Laplace transform methods are used to formulate the present problem in terms of a singular integral equation in Laplace transform domain. Considering variations of parameters such as the nonhomogeneity constant, the thickness ratio and the crack length, the dynamic stress intensity factors (DSIFs) in time domain are studied and some meaningful conclusions are obtained.The project supported by the National Science Foundation for Excellent Young Investigators (10325208), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10432030) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2004036018)The English text was polished by Ron Marshall.     

A moving mode-III crack in functionally graded piezoelectric material: permeable problem

In this paper a moving mode-III crack in functionally graded piezoelectric materials (FGPM) is studied. The crack surfaces are assumed to be permeable. The governing equations for FGPM are solved by means of Fourier cosine transform. The mathematical formulation for the permeable crack condition is derived as a set of dual integral equations, which, in turn, are reduced to a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. The results obtained indicate that the stress intensity factor of moving crack in FGPM depends only on the mechanical loading. The gradient parameter of the FGPM and the moving velocity of the crack do have significant influence on the dynamic stress intensity factor.     

A novel technique for the fabrication of laboratory scale model functionally graded materials

In this work, the authors describe the design, fabrication and testing of model functionally graded materials (FGMs). The inhomogeneous property variations were generated by altering material properties through selective ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Poly(ethylene co-carbon monoxide) (ECO) was chosen to make the FGMs because of its rapid degradation under UV light. Irradiated ECO becomes stiffer, stronger and more brittle with increasing irradiation time. Through a series of tension tests, the authors characterized the mechanical behavior of the specific ECO used as a function of UV exposure time. Furthermore, by controlling exposure time, specimens with continuously and discretely varying mechanical properties were produced. The resulting graded materials exhibited a Young's modulus that varied from about 160 MPa to 250 MPa and a strain to failure that varied from about 900 percent to 10 percent over the width in a 150 mm wide specimen. Microhardness measurements were used to determine the differences between discretely and continuously varying mechanical properties.     

Recursive geometric integrators for wave propagation in a functionally graded multilayered elastic medium

The differential equations governing transfer and stiffness matrices and acoustic impedance for a functionally graded generally anisotropic magneto-electro-elastic medium have been obtained. It is shown that the transfer matrix satisfies a linear 1st order matrix differential equation, while the stiffness matrix satisfies a nonlinear Riccati equation. For a thin nonhomogeneous layer, approximate solutions with different levels of accuracy have been formulated in the form of a transfer matrix using a geometrical integration in the form of a Magnus expansion. This integration method preserves qualitative features of the exact solution of the differential equation, in particular energy conservation. The wave propagation solution for a thick layer or a multilayered structure of inhomogeneous layers is obtained recursively from the thin layer solutions. Since the transfer matrix solution becomes computationally unstable with increase of frequency or layer thickness, we reformulate the solution in the form of a stable stiffness-matrix solution which is obtained from the relation of the stiffness matrices to the transfer matrices. Using an efficient recursive algorithm, the stiffness matrices of the thin nonhomogeneous layer are combined to obtain the total stiffness matrix for an arbitrary functionally graded multilayered system. It is shown that the round-off error for the stiffness-matrix recursive algorithm is higher than that for the transfer matrices. To optimize the recursive procedure, a computationally stable hybrid method is proposed which first starts the recursive computation with the transfer matrices and then, as the thickness increases, transits to the stiffness matrix recursive algorithm. Numerical results show this solution to be stable and efficient. As an application example, we calculate the surface wave velocity dispersion for a functionally graded coating on a semispace.     

Frictionless contact of a functionally graded magneto-electro-elastic layered half-plane under a conducting punch

This paper investigates the two-dimensional frictionless contact problem of a functionally graded magneto-electro-elastic materials (FGMEEMs) layered half-plane under a rigid flat or a cylindrical punch. It is assumed that the punch is a perfect electro-magnetic conductor with a constant electric potential and a constant magnetic potential. The magneto-electro-elastic (MEE) properties of the FGMEEM layer vary exponentially along the thickness direction. Using the Fourier transform technique, the contact problem can be reduced to Cauchy singular integral equations, which are then solved numerically to determine the normal contact stress, electric displacement and magnetic induction on the contact surface. Numerical results show that the gradient index, punch geometry and magneto-electro-mechanical loads have a significant effect on the contact behavior of FGMEEMs.     

A finite element formulation for analysis of functionally graded plates and shells

Summary A finite element formulation is derived for the thermoelastic analysis of functionally graded (FG) plates and shells. The power-law distribution model is assumed for the composition of the constitutent materials in the thickness direction. The procedure adopted to derive the finite element formulation contains the analytical through-the-thickness integration inherently. Such formulation accounts for the large gradient of the material properties of FG plates and shells through the thickness without using the Gauss points in the thickness direction. The explicit through-the-thickness integration becomes possible due to the proper decomposition of the material properties into the product of a scalar variable and a constant matrix through the thickness. The nonlinear heat-transfer equation is solved for thermal distribution through the thickness by the Rayleigh-Ritz method. According to the results, the formulation accounts for the nonlinear variation in the stress components through the thickness especially for regions with a variation in martial propperties near the free surfaces.     

Mode-3 spontaneous crack propagation along functionally graded bimaterial interfaces

The effects of combining functionally graded materials (FGMs) of different inhomogeneous property gradients on the mode-3 propagation characteristics of an interfacial crack are numerically investigated. Spontaneous interfacial crack propagation simulations were performed using the newly developed spectral scheme. The numerical scheme derived and implemented in the present work can efficiently simulate planar crack propagation along functionally graded bimaterial interfaces. The material property inhomogeneity was assumed to be in the direction normal to the interface. Various bimaterial combinations were simulated by varying the material property inhomogeneity length scale. Our parametric study showed that the inclusion of a softening type FGM in the bimaterial system leads to a reduction in the fracture resistance indicated by the increase in crack propagation velocity and power absorbed. An opposite trend of increased fracture resistance was predicted when a hardening material was included in the bimaterial system. The cohesive tractions and crack opening displacements were altered due to the material property inhomogeneity, but the stresses ahead of the cohesive zone remained unaffected.