NURBS-based refined plate theory for metal foam plates with porosities

Abstract

In this article, the free vibration, bending, and transient analyses of the porous metal foam plate via an isogeometric analysis (IGA) are investigated. Three types of porosity distributions across the thickness of the metal foam plate including uniform, symmetric and asymmetric are inspected. The refined higher-order shear deformation theory is utilized to reduce one variable as comparing to the higher-order shear deformation theory. The present theory without using shear correction factors overcomes the shear locking phenomenon. The governing equations of the porous metal foam plate are obtained by using the Hamilton's principle and then solved by isogeometric analysis to determine natural frequencies, deflections and dynamic responses. The effects of different parameters including porosity distributions, porosity coefficient, length–thickness ratios and boundary conditions on the frequencies, deflections and dynamic responses of the metal foam plate are studied. The numerical results show that an increase of the porous coefficient leads to a decline of frequencies and a rise of displacements of the plate. Key findings can be given for manufacturing metal foam structures.