An accurate prediction of natural frequencies of sandwich plates with functionally graded material core in thermal environment using a layerwise theory

Abstract

The present work deals with an accurate prediction of natural frequencies of sandwich plates with functionally graded material (FGM) core in thermal environment. The sandwich plate is made of isotropic face sheets and FGM core. The material properties of the FGM core are varied according to a power law distribution in terms of volume fraction of the constituent material. The layerwise theory used in this work is based on the assumption of the first-order shear deformation theory in each layer and the imposition of displacement continuity at each layer interface. An eight noded isoparametric element is used to model the plate using the finite element method. Heat conduction and temperature dependent material properties are taken into account. The thermal load considered is uniform over the plate surface and varied across thickness direction only. The FEM results are compared with benchmark solutions from literature for FGM plates in order to validate the correctness of the present formulation. Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effects of geometric, elastic properties and boundary conditions on the free vibration behavior of FGM sandwich plate.