This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier.

The attached
copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research
and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution
and sharing with colleagues.
Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or
licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party
websites are prohibited.
In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the
article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or
institutional repository. Authors requiring further information
regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are
encouraged to visit:
http://www.elsevier.com/copyright
 Author's personal copy

Ain Shams Engineering Journal (2011) 2, 53–62

Ain Shams University

Ain Shams Engineering Journal

www.elsevier.com/locate/asej
www.sciencedirect.com

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

A first-order shear deformation finite element model

for elastostatic analysis of laminated composite plates
and the equivalent functionally graded plates
S.S. Alieldin, A.E. Alshorbagy, M. Shaat *

Mechanical Design and Production Department, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44511, Egypt

Received 1 January 2011; revised 18 April 2011; accepted 5 May 2011

Available online 6 August 2011

KEYWORDS
Functional graded plates;
Laminated composite plates;
First order shear deforma-
tion model;
Elastostatic finite element
analysis
Abstract In the present paper, the first-order shear deformation plate (FSDT) model is exploited
to investigate the mechanical behavior of laminated composite and functional graded plates. Three
approaches are developed to transform the laminated composite plate, with stepped material prop-
erties, to an equivalent functionally graded (FG) plate with a continuous property function across
the plate thickness. Such transformations are used to determine the details of a functional graded
plate equivalent to the original laminated one. In addition it may provide an easy and efficient way
to investigate the behavior of multilayer composite plates, with direct and less computational
efforts. A comparative study has been developed to compare the effectiveness of the three proposed
transformation procedures.
 2011 Ain Shams University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
All rights reserved.

1. Introduction ter engineering properties than the conventional materials, for

Composite materials are those formed by combining two or
more materials on a macroscopic scale such that they have bet-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 012 2232469.
E-mail address: ShaatScience@yahoo.com (M. Shaat).
2090-4479  2011 Ain Shams University. Production and hosting by
Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Peer review under responsibility of Ain Shams University.
doi:10.1016/j.asej.2011.05.003
Production and hosting by Elsevier
example, metals. Most man-made composite materials are
made from two materials: a reinforcement material called fiber
and a base material, called matrix material [1].
The stiffness and strength of fibrous composites come from
fibers which are stiffer and stronger than the same material in
bulk form. The matrix material keeps the fibers together, acts
as a load-transfer medium between fibers, and protects fibers
from being exposed to the environment. Matrix materials have
their usual bulk-form properties whereas fibers have direction-
ally dependent properties.
Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are microscopically
inhomogeneous composite materials, in which the volume
fraction of the two or more materials is varied smoothly and
continuously as a continuous function of the material position
along one or more dimensions of the structure. These materials
 Author's personal copy
54
are mainly constructed to operate in high temperature
environments.
In conventional laminated composite structures, homoge-
neous elastic lamina are bonded together to obtain enhanced
mechanical and thermal properties. The main inconvenience
of such an assembly is to create stress concentrations along
the interfaces and more specifically when high temperatures
are involved. This can lead to delaminations, matrix cracks,
and other damage mechanisms which result from the abrupt
change of the mechanical properties at the interface between
the layers. One way to overcome this problem is to use func-
tionally graded materials within which material properties vary
continuously. The concept of functionally graded material
(FGM) was proposed in 1984 by the material scientists in Ja-
pan [2]. The FGM is a composite material whose composition
varies according to the required performance. It can be pro-
duced with a continuously graded variation of the volume frac-
tions of the constituents, which leads to a continuity of the
material properties of FGM which is the main difference be-
tween such a material and the usual composite one. FGMs
are usually made of a mixture of ceramic and metals.
The ceramic constituent of the material provides a high
temperature resistance due to its low thermal conductivity,
while the ductile metal constituent, on the other hand, prevents
the fracture caused by thermal stress due to high temperature
gradient in a very short period of time.
The composite plates are studied widely in the literature (a
review of the plate theories can be found in Ghugal and Shimpi
[3], and Reddy [1]). Plate models for the functionally graded
materials have been developed analytically and numerically.
Various approaches have been developed to establish the
appropriate analysis of the functionally graded (FG) plates.
An analytical model, based on the classical plate theory
(CPT) of Love–Kirchhoff has been developed by Chi and
Chung [4,5] for the FGM plates. They developed the analytical
solution for simply supported FG plates subjected to mechan-
ical loads. In practice, this model is not valid for thick plates
where there is a comparability for shear deformation energy.
Several authors suggested computational models that take into
account the transversal shear effect, by using the first-order
shear deformation theory (FSDT) [6,7] and higher-order shear
deformation theories [8,1]. Praveen and Reddy [9] examined
the nonlinear static and dynamic responses of functionally
graded ceramic–metal plates using the first-order shear defor-
mation theory (FSDT) and the von Karman strain. Zenkour
[10] presented the analysis of FG sandwich plates for the
deflection, stresses, buckling and free vibration in [11,12].
The first-order shear deformation plate models for the
investigation of the behavior of structures made of function-
ally graded materials are proposed by Nguyen, et al. [13].
The identification of transverse shear factors is investigated
through these models by energy equivalence. The static
analysis of functionally graded, anisotropic and linear mag-
neto–electro–elastic plates which has been carried out by
semi-analytical finite element method is proposed by Rajesh
et al. [14]. The finite element model is derived based on
constitutive equation of piezomagnetic material accounting
for coupling between elasticity, electric and magnetic effect.
Reddy et al. [15] studied the axisymmetric bending and
stretching of FG solid and annular circular plates using the
FSDT. The solutions for deflections, force and moment resul-
tants were presented in terms of the corresponding quantities
S.S. Alieldin et al.
of isotropic plates based on the classical Kirchhoff plate the-
ory. Lanhe [16] used the FSDT and derived equilibrium and
stability equations of a moderately thick rectangular plate
made of FGM under thermal loads. The theoretical formula-
tion for bending analysis of functionally graded (FG) rotating
disks based on first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is
proposed by M. Bayat. Wong [17]. The material properties of
the disk are assumed to be graded in the radial direction by a
power law distribution of volume fractions of the constituents.
The models based on the first-order shear deformation the-
ory (FSDT) are very often used owing to their simplicity in
analysis and programming. It requires, however, a convenient
value of the shear correction factor. In practice, this coefficient
has been assumed to be given by 5/6 as for homogeneous
plates. This value is a priori no longer appropriate for func-
tionally graded material analysis due to the position depen-
dence of elastic properties [13].
In the present paper, the first-order shear deformation plate
(FSDT) model is exploited to investigate the mechanical
behavior of laminated composite and functional graded plates.
Three approaches are developed to transform the laminated
composite plate with stepped material properties to an equiv-
alent FG plate with a continuous property function across
the plate thickness. Such transformations are used to deter-
mine the details of an FG plate equivalent to the original lam-
inated one.
In addition, the transformation procedure may provide an
easy and efficient way to investigate the behavior of multilayer
composite plates, with direct integration and less computa-
tional efforts.
2. Formulation of FSDT finite element model
In this section the first-order shear deformation plate models
for modeling structures made of functionally graded materials
are proposed. As mentioned previously, the models based on
the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) are very often
used owing to their simplicity in analysis and programming.
The straight lines perpendicular to the mid-surface of the plate
(transverse normals) before deformation remain straight after
deformation but the transverse normals do not experience
elongation (they are inextensible), and the transverse normals
rotate such that they do not remain perpendicular to the mid
surface after deformation. Based on the first assumption, the
transverse shear strains and consequently the shear stresses
are constant throughout the laminate thickness. In practice,
a convenient shear correction factor, equals to 56, is assumed
for homogeneous plates (Fig. 1).
2.1. Mathematical model
As mentioned previously it is assumed that the transverse nor-
mals rotate such that they do not remain perpendicular to the
mid surface after deformation, so the displacement fields are
uðx; y; z; tÞ ¼ u0 ðx; y; tÞ þ z;x ðx; y; tÞ
mðx; y; z; tÞ ¼ m0 ðx; y; tÞ þ z;y ðx; y; tÞ ð2:1Þ
xðx; y; z; tÞ ¼ x0 ðx; y; tÞ
where ðu0 ; m0 ; x0 ; ;x ; ;y Þ are unknown functions to be deter-
mined, t denotes the time and ðu0 ; m0 ; x0 Þ denotes the displace-
ments of the mid plane (z = 0). Note that @u @z
¼ ;x and @m
@z
¼ ;y
 Author's personal copy

A first-order shear deformation finite element model for elastostatic analysis of laminated composite plates 55
   " @x 0 ðx;yÞ
#
cxz ðx; y; zÞ 1 0 @x
þ ;x ðx; yÞ
¼ @x0 ðx;yÞ
cyz ðx; y; zÞ 0 1 @y
þ ;y ðx; yÞ
orfes g ¼ ½Zs fe0s g ð2:6Þ
where fe0b g
is the nodal bending strain and is the nodal fe0s g
shear strain. The nodal strain components are determined in
coming sections. Substitute Eq. (2.5) and Eq. (2.6) into Eq.
(2.3), we can obtain:
ZZZ
S:E ¼ ½fe0b gT ½zb T ½Db T ½zb fe0b g

þ ½fe0s gT ½zs T ½Ds T ½zs fe0s gdxdydz ð2:7Þ

where the material matrix can be determined from the integra-
tion over the material thickness
Z h2
½DEEb  ¼ ½zb T ½Db T ½zb dz ð2:8Þ
h2

where [DEEb] is the bending material matrix of the plate, so it

can be written in the form
Figure 1 Undeformed and deformed geometries of an edge of a  
½A ½B
plate under the assumptions of the FSDT. ½DEEb  ¼
½B ½D
Z h2
Aij ¼ Qij ðzÞdz
which indicate that ;x and ;y are the rotations of a transverse h2

normal about the y-axis and x-axis, respectively. Z h

2

The strain energy(S.E), is given by Bij ¼ zQij ðzÞdz

h2
Z ZZZ Z h
S:E ¼ frgT fegdm ¼ frgT fegdx dy dz ð2:2Þ Dij ¼
2
z2 Qij ðzÞdz
m
h2
where frg ¼ ½Dfeg, [D] is the total material properties matrix.
where Aij is the extensional stiffness components, Bij is bend-
So in Eq. (2.2), we obtain
ZZZ ing-extensional coupling stiffness components, and Dij is bend-
S:E ¼ fegT ½DT fegdx dy dz ð2:3Þ ing stiffness components.
Z h2
The strain is the variation of the continuum deformation and½DEEs  ¼ ½zs T ½Ds T ½zs dz ð2:9Þ
h2
with respect to its volume, so strain components can be deter-
mined from Eq. (2.1) as follows: where [DEEs] is the shear material matrix of the plate, so it can
@u0 @;x be written in the form
exx ¼ þz  
@x @x ½0 ½0
½DEEs  ¼
@m0 @;y ½0 ½S
eyy ¼ þz Z h2
@y @y
  Sij ¼ Qij ðzÞdz
@u0 @m0 @;x @;y h2
cxy ¼ þ þz þ ð2:4Þ
@y @x @y @x
where for isotropic FG materials
@x0 2 3
cxz ¼ þ ;x Q11 ðzÞ Q12 ðzÞ Q16 ðzÞ
@x
6 7
@x0 ½Db  ¼ 4 Q12 ðzÞ Q22 ðzÞ Q26 ðzÞ 5 ð2:10Þ
cyz ¼ þ ;y
@y Q16 ðzÞ Q26 ðzÞ Q66 ðzÞ
 
So, the strain components can divided into feb g bending strain, Q44 ðzÞ Q45 ðzÞ
½Ds  ¼ ð2:11Þ
and fes g shear strain components. Q45 ðzÞ Q55 ðzÞ
2 3
@u0 ðx;yÞ
@x
Note that Qij ðzÞ is the equivalent material property compo-
6 7 nents as a function of the material thickness direction z. Where
6 @m0 ðx;yÞ 7
8 9 2 366 @y 7 in FG plate, its material properties vary smoothly and contin-
7
< exx ðx; y; zÞ >
> = 1 0 0 z 0 0 6 @u0 ðx;yÞ @m0 ðx;yÞ 7
6 þ 7 uously over the thickness of the structure.
eyy ðx; y; zÞ ¼ 6 7 @y @x
40 1 0 0 z 0 566
7
7
>
: >
; 6
@;x ðx;yÞ
7
cxy ðx; y; zÞ 0 0 1 0 0 z 6 @x
7 2.2. Finite element model
6 @;y ðx;yÞ 7
6 @y 7
4 5
@;x ðx;yÞ @;y ðx;yÞ The displacements and normal rotations at any point into a fi-
@y
þ @x
nite element e may be expressed in terms of the n nodes of the
orfeb g ¼ ½Zb fe0b g ð2:5Þ element:
 Author's personal copy

56 S.S. Alieldin et al.

8 9 2 e 38 ue 9
> u0 ðx; yÞ > wi 0 0 0 0 > > 0 >
> The normal stress components can be determined as follows
>
> >
> >
> e >
> 8 9 2 38 9
> m0 ðx; yÞ >
> > 6 0 wei 0 0 0 7 >
> m >
>
< = Xn 6 7< = < rxx >
> Q11 ðzÞ Q12 ðzÞ Q16 ðzÞ > < exx >
0
6 7 = =
x0 ðx; yÞ ¼ 6 0 0 wei 0 0 7 we0 ð2:12Þ 6 7
ryy ¼ 4 Q12 ðzÞ Q22 ðzÞ Q26 ðzÞ 5 eyy
>
> >
> 6 7>> ;e >> > > > >
> > i¼1 4
wei 0 5> > : ; : ;
> ;x ðx; yÞ >
>
: >
;
0 0 0 >
> x0 >
> >
> rxy Q16 ðzÞ Q26 ðzÞ Q66 ðzÞ cxy
e : e ;
;y ðx; yÞ 0 0 0 0 wi ;y0
orfrb g ¼ ½Db feb g ð2:19Þ
where wei
is the Lagrange interpolation function at node i. The and the shear stress components are
Lagrange interpolation function for nine node rectangular ele-
  " # 
ments are given by in terms of the natural coordinates [1]. ryz Q44 ðzÞ Q45 ðzÞ cyz
8 9 2 3 ¼
w1 > ð1  nÞð1  gÞðn  g  1Þ þ ð1  n2 Þð1  g2 Þ rxz Q45 ðzÞ Q55 ðzÞ cxz
>
> >
>
>w > >
> 6 ð1 þ nÞð1  gÞðn  g  1Þ þ ð1  n Þð1  g2 Þ 7
2
>
> 2> 6 7 orfrg ¼ ½Ds fes g ð2:20Þ
>
> >
> 6 7
>
> w3 >> 6 ð1 þ nÞð1 þ gÞðn þ g  1Þ þ ð1  n2 Þð1  g2 Þ 7
>
> >
> 6 7 where the material matrix components of isotropic FG plate
>
> >
> 6 2 2 7
>
< w4 >= 1 6 ð1  nÞð1 þ gÞðn þ g  1Þ þ ð1  n Þð1  g Þ 7 are
6 7
w5 ¼ 6 2ð1  n2 Þð1  gÞ  ð1  n2 Þð1  g2 Þ 7 EðzÞ
>
> >
> 46 7
>
> w >
> 6 2ð1 þ nÞð1  g2
Þ  ð1  n 2
Þð1  g2
Þ 7 Q11 ðzÞ ¼ ; Q12 ðzÞ ¼ tðzÞQ11 ðzÞ; Q11 ðzÞ  Q22 ðzÞ;
>
> 6>
> 6 7 1  t2
>
> >
> 6 2 2 2 7
> w7 >
> > 6 2ð1  n Þð1 þ gÞ  ð1  n Þð1  g Þ 7 1  tðzÞ
>
> >
> 6 7 Q66 ðzÞ ¼ Q11 ðzÞ
>
> w >
> 4 2ð1  nÞð1  g2
Þ  ð1  n 2
Þð1  g2
Þ 5 2
>
: > 8
;
w9 2
4ð1  n Þð1  g Þ2 1  tðzÞ
Q44 ðzÞ ¼ Q55 ðzÞ ¼ K Q11 ðzÞ
ð2:13Þ 2
Q16 ðzÞ ¼ Q26 ðzÞ ¼ Q45 ðzÞ ¼ 0:0
The nodal bending strain can be written as follow
8 9 2 e 3 where K is the material shear correction factor, E(z) is the
@u0 ðx;yÞ @wi
>
> >
> 0 0 0 0 effective young’s modulus, and tðzÞ is the effective Poisson’s
>
> @x >
> 6 @x
78 e 9
> > 6 0 @wei 0
> > 0 7
@ve0 ðx;yÞ u0 > ratio of the material through the laminate thickness. The con-
>
> >
> 6 0 7>> >
>
> @y >
> 6 @y
7 >
> e >
> venient shear correction factor has been assumed to be given
>
> >
e ðx;yÞ >
6 e e
7 >
> v >
>
< 0
@u ðx;yÞ
þ
@v 0 = X n 6 @w i @w i
0 0 0 7 < 0 = by 56 as for homogeneous plates (Fig. 2) [1].
@y @x
@y @x
¼ 6 7 x e
> 6 e 7 0
> 0 7> > ;e >
@; ðx;yÞ @w
>
>
x
> i¼1 6 0 0 0  @xi >
>
>
@x >
>
> 6 7>
e 7>
> x0 >>
> 3. Effective mechanical properties
>
> > 6 > >
>  @yi 7: ;ey ;
@; y ðx;yÞ @w
>
> >
> 6 0 0 0 0
>
>
@y >
> 4 5 0
>
: @;x ðx;yÞ þ @;y ðx;yÞ > ; @we @we
@y @x 0 0 0  i  i @y @x A functionally graded material is a composite material whose
X
n composition and microstructure are locally varied during man-
orfe0b g ¼ ½Bb fu0 g ð2:14Þ ufacturing so that certain variations of local material (thermal
i¼1 and mechanical) properties are achieved. Comparing to tradi-
where [Bb] is the curvature-displacement matrix. The nodal tional composites merits of FGMs include: (1) small thermal
shear strain can be written as stresses and a designed peak thermal stress location; (2) small
8 e 9 stress concentrations at material interfaces in an FGM; (3)
> u0 >
>
> e > > strong interfacial bonding; (4) reduced free-edge effects; (5) de-
( @x0 ðx;yÞ ) 2 3>
> m > >
X @wie
e >
< 0 > = layed plastic yielding; and (6) increased fracture toughness by
þ ; x ðx; yÞ n 0 0 w i 0
@x
¼ 4 @x
e
5 x e
0
reducing driving force for crack growth along/across material
wei > >
@x0 ðx;yÞ @w
@y
þ ;y ðx; yÞ i¼1 0 0 @yi 0 >
> ;ex >> interfaces [18].
>
> 0 >
>
>
: e > ; Mechanical properties of an FGP include Young’s modulus
;y0
E, shear modulus G, Poisson’s ratio t, and mass density q, and
X n
orfe0s g ¼ ½Bs fu0 g ð2:15Þ
i¼1

Where [Bs] is the shear strain-displacement matrix. So, the ele-

ment stiffness matrices and load vector may be written as
follows:
Z
½Keb  ¼ ½Bb T ½DEEb ½Bb dA ð2:16Þ
A

Z
½Kes  ¼ ½Bs T ½DEEs ½Bs dA ð2:17Þ
A

Z
ffe g ¼ ½wei T fqgdA ð2:18Þ
A

where {q} is the applied force vector.So Eq. (2.14) and (2.15),
into Eq. (2.5) and (2.6) the bending and shear strain vectors Figure 2 Finite element for shear deformation models of plates
can be obtained by substitution of. (nine node element).
 Author's personal copy

A first-order shear deformation finite element model for elastostatic analysis of laminated composite plates 57

thermal properties include the coefficient of thermal expansion constituents with the volume fraction of the composite mate-
a, the thermal conductivity k, and the specific heat capacity C. rial constituents. This approach provides an FG plate of the
q and t are usually linear functions of material volume ratios, same constituents of the composite plate, and of the same vol-
but others are nonlinear functions of material volume ratios ume fraction of constituent materials.
because they depend on material microstructures [19]. The To compare between the three approaches, numerical sim-
FG plate theory presented here can work with effective mate- ulations are performed to this aim, these simulations are dis-
rial properties estimated by using any method. For state of cussed in the coming section.
simplicity, the effective property P will be estimated using
the simple, Voigt arithmetic method as: 5. Numerical result
P ¼ P1 V1 þ P2 V2 ; V1 þ V2 ¼ 1
In this section we present several numerical simulations, in or-
where P1 and P2 are the properties of the first and second con-
der to assess the behavior of functionally graded plates sub-
stituent materials (metal and ceramic), and V1 and V2 are the
jected to mechanical loads. To this aim we will consider a
volume fractions of the constituent materials. The distribu-
simple supported plate. The plate is made by a ceramic mate-
tions of volume fractions through the plate thickness are as-
rial at the top, a metallic at the bottom and law Eq. (3.1), with
sumed to follow the following simple power law:
 n n = 0, 0.5, 1, 2 is used for the through-the-thickness variation.
z þ zi
V2 ¼
ziþ1  zi 5.1. Verification of the Proposed Model
where n can be any non-negative real number and
zi+1 P z P zi. Note that the plate thickness h = zi+1zi, The analysis of the FGMs plates is performed for a combina-
hence we have the effective material property is given by tion of materials of type ceramic-metal. The lower plate sur-
  face is assumed to be aluminum while the top surface is
z þ zi assumed to be zirconia. Material properties vary with the
P ¼ P1 þ ðP2  P1 Þ ð3:1Þ
ziþ1  zi power law and the values n = 0, 0.5, 1, 2 are considered. Phys-
For detailed modeling of effective material properties of ical material properties are given in Table 1 [22]. A simply sup-
FGMs the reader has to refer to Refs. [19–21]. ported square plate is considered of side a = 0.2 m and
thickness h = 0.01 m. The plate is subjected to a uniformly dis-
tributed mechanical normal load on the top surface (See Fig.
4. Proposed transformation procedures of a laminated composite 3)
plate to an equivalent single-layer FG plate To determine the elastic-static response of FG plates with
material constituents (aluminum and zirconia), several simula-
Many approaches are used to transform a laminated plate, tions are performed for different values of the grading param-
having stepped material properties across the plate thickness, eter n. The following non-dimensional parameters are
to an equivalent FG plate with continuous material property introduced for use within the numerical simulations to be
function across the thickness. A comparative study is devel-
oped to check the effectiveness of the different procedure
according to the consistency between the behavior of the origi- Table 1 Material properties.
nal laminated plate and those of the equivalent FG plates.
Property Aluminum Zirconia
The first approach is a curve fitting approach which is used
to obtain an equivalent function of the FG material property, Young’s modulus EL = 70 GPa EU = 151 GPa
consistent with the distribution of the composite material Poisson’s ratio tL = 0.3 tU = 0.3
property across the plate thickness. This approach provides
an FG plate of constituents having nearly the same properties
of the original laminated plate. The effective material property
of the equivalent FG plate can be obtained by equating the to-
tal area under the stepped distribution curve of laminated
composite materials properties and the area of the continuous
curve concerning the material property function of the equiv-
alent FG plate.
The second approach is the effective material property ap-
proach. In this approach, the FG material property varies
through the plate thickness with the power law given in Eq.
(3.1), and the value of n is calculated by equating the effective
material property of the FG material with the effective mate-
rial property of the composite material. This approach pro-
vides an FG plate of the same constituents of the composite
plate, and of the same effective material property.
The third approach is the volume fraction approach. In it
the FG material property varies through the plate thickness
with the power law given in Eq. (3.1), and the value of n is cal-
culated by equating the volume fractions of the FG material Figure 3 Plate geometry, load and material distribution.
 Author's personal copy

58 S.S. Alieldin et al.

presented next (here q denotes the intensity of the applied 0.0015

n = 0.5
mechanical load and Eb is the Young’s modulus at the bottom n=1
face (aluminum)): 0.001 n=2
ceramic
 ¼ x=h
Central deflection x 0.0005 metal

Strain xx
a4 q
Load parameter P ¼ ð5:1Þ 0
Eb h4
Thickness h ¼ h=a -0.0005

Several simulations were conducted to assess the behavior -0.001

of functionally graded plates to mechanical load. Focusing
on the midpoint deflection x,  the objective of the analysis is
to compare the response of functionally graded plates with
the one of homogeneous single-constituent plates, i.e. those
made of aluminum or zirconia only. Toward this goal, several
numerical studies are conducted with increasing mechanical
load. Fig. 4 shows the central deflection x  ¼ x=h due to a se-
quence of mechanical loads for different values of n. The non-
dimensional load P takes values in the interval (0,12) and one
may see that all the plates with intermediate material proper-
ties experience intermediate values of deflection. This was ex-
pected since the metallic plate is the one with the lowest
stiffness and the ceramic plate is the one with the highest stiff-
ness. Table 2, shows the numerical results of the simulations.
The results are in excellent agreement with those presented in
[22].
From Fig. 4, the central deflection of the FG plate (in the
previous example) decreases by raising the value of the expo-
nent parameter (n), because the material stiffness increases.
The material stiffness increases due to the volume fraction in-
crease of the ceramic by raising the value of (n). Note, this is
sufficient for FG material its top surface has young’s modulus
higher than its bottom surface.
-0.0015
-0.5 0 0.5
z/h
Figure 5 Axial strain distribution through the plate thickness.
Fig. 5 represents the axial strain exx at the center of the
square plate along the thickness direction. The plate is as-
sumed to be subjected to a uniformly distributed load of inten-
sity q = 1 GPa. Based on the formulated model (FSDT), the
strain exx of the FGM plate is linear, which is a result of the
assumption that the strain is proportional to z. It is shown
also, there is no strain at the mid-plane of the FG plate at
(z = 0), while it is well known that the neutral surface moves
forward to the top surface of the FGM plate, as the material
stiffness decreases. The FSDT of plates assumes that the trans-
verse normals to the mid-plane of the plate remain straight and
rotate such that they do not remain perpendicular to the mid
surface after deformation. This reflects the lack of the theory.
The variation of the axial stress rxx at the center of the FGM
plate along the thickness direction for different values of the
material parameter n is depicted in Fig. 6. The stress of power
law FGM (P-FGM) plate can be represented as a function of z
of order 3 for material parameter n is assumed to be 2. The
maximum tensile stress at the center of the FGM plate is at
the bottom edge (z = h/2) and increases as the ratio EU/EL in-
creases. However, the maximum compressive stress is at the
top surface (z = h/2) and is high for small EU/EL. For the
ratio EU/EL = 1 in which the FGM plate becomes a homoge-
nous isotropic plate, the stress distribution is a linear function
of z and the maximum stress is at the top or bottom surface of
the plate.

0.3
Ceramic
Figure 4 Non-dimensional center deflection of P-FGM versus
Non diensional axial stress

0.2 n = 0.5
load parameter. n=1
0.1 n =2
Metal
0

-0.1
Table 2 Non-dimensional deflection of Mid-point versus load
parameter. -0.2

Load parameter (P) (w)

 for -0.3

Ceramic n = 0.5 n=1 n=2 Metal -0.4

2 0.04 0.06 0.06 0.05 0.09 -0.5

4 0.08 0.13 0.11 0.11 0.18 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
6 0.13 0.19 0.17 0.16 0.27 z/h
8 0.17 0.25 0.23 0.21 0.36
10 0.21 0.32 0.29 0.27 0.45 Figure 6 Non-dimensional axial stress distribution through the
2
12 0.25 0.38 0.34 0.32 0.54 plate thickness (*Non-dimensional axial stress ¼ rxx ðah2 qÞ *Non-

dimensional thickness h ¼ z=h).
 Author's personal copy
A first-order shear deformation finite element model for elastostatic analysis of laminated composite plates
E1/E2 = 1
0.8 E1/E2= 2
Non-Dimensional Center
0.7 E1/E2 = 10
Deflection (w/h)
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 used to transform the multilayer composite plate to a single-
0 1 2 4 6 8
Aspect ratio a/b
Figure 7 Non-dimensional center deflection of P-FGM plate
versus the aspect ratio for different E1/E2.
5.2. Effect of the aspect ratio
In order to investigate the effect of the aspect ratio a/b, the
center deflection of the P-FGM plate is shown in Fig. 7. It
can be observed that the center deflection increases with
increasing the aspect ratio for a/b less than 3. This results show
good agreement with those obtained by (Chi and Chung)
[4,5,23]. The used material and geometrical properties are
E2 = 2.1 · 106 Kg/cm2, t = 0.3, b = 100 cm, h = 2 cm, and
q = 1.0 Kg/cm2. In the figure, E1/E2 denotes the ratio of the
elastic modulus at the top and bottom faces of the plate.
Fig. 7 shows that more of E1/E2 brings the larger deflection,
because larger E1/E2 decreases the stiffness of the FGM plate.
Table 3, shows the numerical results of the simulations.
5.3. Comparison between the multilayer composite and the
single-layer FG analyses
The analysis of multilayer composite plates consuming a com-
putational effort is considered high relative to the analysis of
single-layer FG plates. In multilayer composite plates, the
equivalent material property components are computed for
each layer and summed together to form the overall material
matrix, thus consumes more analysis time and computational
effort. Also, the abrupt change in material property from
one layer to other in multilayer plates leads to some computa-
tional problems such as discontinuity at the layer’s interfaces
that could produce stiffness matrix singularity. Transforming
the multilayer composite plate to a single-layer FG plate is per-
Table 3 Non-dimensional center deflection of P-FGM plate
versus the aspect ratio for different E1/E2.
a/b Non-dimensional deflection W/h for P-FGM (P = 2)
E1/E2 = 1 E1/E2 = 2
1 0.13295 0.1662
2 0.33015 0.41265
4 0.41615 0.52015
6 0.42645 0.533
8 0.4330 0.54125
10 0.4368 0.546
59
formed to make a good use of the material continuous change
through the plate thickness to overcome the lack of the analy-
sis of multilayer composite plates.
To compare between the analysis of multilayer composite
plates and the analysis of single-layer FG plates, some simula-
tions are performed under the same cause and parameters ex-
cept the material parameter. A multilayer composite and
single-layer FG plates consisting of the same material constit-
uents are used to perform a fair comparison between their
analyses. So, the three approaches discussed previously are
10 layer FG plate of the same material constituents.
The objective now, is to compute the elastic-static response
of a multilayer composite plate and a single-layer FG plate
transformed by the three approaches, subjected to the same
mechanical loads. To reach this aim a square plate of side
length a = 40 m, thickness h = 2 m and subjected to a uni-
form distributed load is used. The plate material has four
states. In State 1, the plate is multilayered (five layers) and
composed of two isotropic materials (Zerconia and Alumi-
num) see Fig. 8(a). In States 2,3 and 4, the multi-layer compos-
ite plate is transformed to a single layer FG plate by using the
numerical curve fitting method approach, the effective material
property approach and the volume fraction approach, respec-
tively (see Fig. 8(b),(c),(d)).
Fig. 9 and Table 4 show the non-dimensional central deflec-
tion w ¼ w=h due to a sequence of mechanical loads for the
four states of material. Fig. 10 shows the axial strain distribu-
tion along the plate thickness for the different States of mate-
rial. Fig. 11 and Table 5 show the non-dimensional axial stress
distribution along the plate thickness for the different states of
material.
Figs. 9 and 10 show that the volume fraction approach
experiences the best transformation from multilayer composite
material state to a single-layer FG material state (for the ex-
plained simulation). This conclusion could differ for another
simulation example, so the three approaches must be applied
for each simulation problem to provide the best approach that
can be used. Finally, there is no role can be cited to provide the
best approach, because the numerical curve fitting method ap-
proach depends on the polynomial function, which depends on
the lamination scheme of the composite plate. Also, the effec-
tive material property approach depends on the effective mate-
rial property of the composite material, lamination scheme of
the composite plate and material constituents of the plate.
And, the volume fraction approach depends on the volume
fraction of the plate constituents.
From Fig. 11, the axial stress distribution through the plate
thickness is linear function of z for multilayer composite plate,
while the axial stress distribution through the plate thickness is
a polynomial function of z for the three other FG material
states. The linearity in the multilayer composite analysis re-
flects a big gap between the finite element analysis and reality
(the real response of the plate), but the single-layer FG analysis
E1/E2 = 10 provides close results to reality.
In the multilayer composite plates analysis, the equivalent
0.2077
material property components are computed for each layer
0.51575
0.6502
and summed together to form the overall material matrix, this
0.66625 consuming more analysis time and computational effort. But,
0.6765 in the single-layer FG plates’ analysis, the overall material ma-
0.68245 trix is formed by computing the equivalent material property
components one time. This reflects that the single-layer FG
 Author's personal copy

60 S.S. Alieldin et al.

Figure 8 Material young’s modulus distribution along the plate thickness for (a) Multilayer composite plate (State 1). (b) FGM, Curve
fitting approach (State 2). (c) FGM, Effective material property approach n = 0.6 (State 3). (d) FGM, Volume fraction approach n = 2.2
(State 4).

analysis provides higher performance than multilayer compos-
ite analysis. The single-layer FG analysis reduces the number
of the numerical operations required to form the overall mate-
rial matrix, this leads to reduction in computational effort and
analysis time. For the previous simulation example the save in
the analysis time is nearly 65.625%, while this value could be
increased for increased number of layers for laminate compos-
ite plate.
is introduced. Three approaches are discussed to transform the
multilayer composite plate to an equivalent single-layer FG
plate. A comparative study is developed to check the consis-
tency between the behavior of the original laminated
composite plates and those of the alternatives of the equivalent
single-layer FG plate, determined by the proposed transforma-
tion procedures. The numerical results lead to the following
conclusions:

6. Conclusion 1. Three approaches are proposed to determine the property

details of an FG plate equivalent to the original laminated
In this study, a first-order shear deformation plate (FSDT) composite plate. The computational effort of the elastostat-
model, exploited for the investigation of the mechanical behav- ic analysis of that FG plate is much less than that required
ior of composite laminated plates and functional graded plates, for the analysis of the original laminated one.
 Author's personal copy

A first-order shear deformation finite element model for elastostatic analysis of laminated composite plates 61

0.45 1.5
State 1 State 1
0.4 State 2
State 2
1

Non-dimensional axial stress

Non-dimensional deflection

0.35 State3 State3

State4 State4
0.3 0.5
0.25
0
0.2

0.15 -0.5
0.1
-1
0.05

0 -1.5
2 4 6 8 10 12 -1 -0.75 -0.5 -0.25 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1
Load Parameter P
Thickness direction z
Figure 9 Non-dimensional deflection of midpoint versus load
parameter Figure 11 Non-dimensional axial stress versus thickness direc-
tion for P = 2.

Table 4 Non-dimensional deflection of center point versus

Table 5 Non-dimensional axial stress distribution through
load parameter.
the laminate thickness.
Load Parameter  ¼ w=h
w
z direction Non-dimensional axial stress
State 1 State 2 State 3 State 4
State 1 State 2 State 3 State 4
2 0.05405 0.0673 0.06155 0.05295
4 0.1081 0.1346 0.12305 0.10585 1 1.2583 0.39942 0.3655 0.31476
6 0.16215 0.2019 0.1846 0.1588 0.75 0.9437 0.138994 0.23189 0.23477
8 0.2162 0.2692 0.24615 0.21175 0.5 0.62917 0.092766 0.14008 0.153384
10 0.27025 0.3365 0.30765 0.26465 0.25 0.31458 0.0861517 0.064164 0.073813
12 0.3243 0.4038 0.3692 0.3176 00 00 00 00 00
0.25 0.31458 0.06969 0.0544 0.063682
0.5 0.62917 0.059835 0.10026 0.11255
0.75 0.9437 0.138938 0.1384 0.14167
1 1.2583 0.39926 0.16943 0.1459188

0.0008
State 1 3. Prediction of which approach is better to transform the
0.0006
State 2 composite plate to an equivalent FG plate depends on the
0.0004 State 3 effective material property of the laminate, the volume frac-
State 4 tion of the laminate material constituents, the lamination
Axial Strain

0.0002 scheme, and the material properties of each layer.

0

-0.0002 References
-0.0004
[1] Reddy JN. Mechanics of laminated composites plates: Theory and
-0.0006 analysis. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 1997.
[2] Koizumi M. FGM activities in Japan. Composites 1997;28:1–4.
-0.0008 [3] Ghugal YM, Shimpi RP. A review of refined shear deformation
-1 1 theories of isotropic and anisotropic laminated plates. J Rein-
Thickness direction z forced Plast Compos 2002;21:775–813.
[4] Chi S, Chung Y. Mechanical behavior of functionally graded
Figure 10 Axial strain versus thickness direction for P = 2. material plates under transverse load – Part I: Analysis. Int J
Solids Struct 2006;43:3657–74.
[5] Chi S, Chung Y. Mechanical behavior of functionally graded
material plates under transverse load – Part II: Numerical results.
2. The first approach for equating the behavior of the original Int J Solids Struct 2006;43:3675–91.
laminated plate to a corresponding FG plate, with contin- [6] Mindlin RD. Influence of rotary inertia and shear on flexural
uous property function across the plate thickness, is more motion of isotropic elastic plates. J Appl Mech 1951;18:31–8.
consistent with respect to the behaviors of the original plate [7] Reissner E. The effect of transverse shear deformation on the
and the equivalent FG one bending of elastic plates. J Appl Mech 1945;13:69–77.
 Author's personal copy
62
[8] Reddy JN. Theory and analysis of elastic plates. Philadelphia:
Taylor Francis; 1999.
[9] Praveen GN, Reddy JN. Nonlinear transient thermoelastic
analysis of functionally graded ceramic–metal plates. Int J Solids
Struct 1998;35:4457–76.
[10] Zenkour AM. Generalized shear deformation theory for bending
analysis of functionally graded materials. Appl Math Modell
2006;30:67–84.
[11] Zenkour AM. A comprehensive analysis of functionally graded
sandwich plates: Part 1 – Deflection and stresses. Int J Solids
Struct 2005;42:5224–42.
[12] Zenkour AM. A comprehensive analysis of functionally graded
sandwich plates: Part 2 - Buckling and free vibration. Int J Solids
Struct 2005;42:5243–58.
[13] Trung-Kien a Nguyen, Karam a Sab, Guy b Bonnet. First-order
shear deformation plate models for functionally graded materials.
Compos Struct 2008;83:25–36.
[14] Rajesh K, Bhangale L, Ganesan N. Static analysis of simply
supported functionally graded and layered magneto-electro-elastic
plates. Int J Solids Struct 2006;43:3230–53.
[15] Reddy JN, Wang CM, Kitipornchai S. Axisymmetric bending of
functionally graded circular and annular plate. Eur. J. Mech. A/
Solids 1999;18:185–99.
[16] Lanhe W. Thermal buckling of a simply supported moderately
thick rectangular FGM plate. Compos. Struct. 2004;64:211–8.
[17] Bayat a,b M, Sahari a,b BB, Saleem c M, Ali a Aidy, Wong a SV.
Bending analysis of a functionally graded rotating disk based on
the first order shear deformation theory. Appl Math Modell
2009;33:4215–30.
[18] Frank Pai P, Palazotto Anthony N. Two-dimensional sublamin-
ation theory for analysis of functionally graded plates. J. Sound
Vib. 2007;308:164–89.
[19] Aboudi J. Mechanics of Composite Materials – A Unified
Micromechanical Approach. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1991.
[20] Suresh S, Mortensen A. Fundamentals of Functionally Graded
Materials. The Institute of Materials. London: IOM Communi-
cations Ltd.; 1998.
[21] Muliana Anastasia H. A micromechanical model for predicting
thermal properties and thermo-viscoelastic responses of function-
ally graded materials. Int J Solids Struct 2009;46:1911–24.
[22] Croce Lucia Della, Venini Paolo. Finite elements for functionally
graded Reissner–Mindlin plates. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech.
Eng. 2004;193:705–25.
[23] Han Sung-Cheon, Lee Won-Hong, Park Weon-Tae. Non-linear
analysis of laminated composite and sigmoid functionally graded
S.S. Alieldin et al.
anisotropic structures using a higher-order shear deformable
natural Lagrangian shell element. Compos Struct 2009;89:8–19.
Soliman Soliman Soliman Ali-Eldin, associate
Professor of Mechanical Design, Faculty of
Engineering, Zagazig University. Graduated
from Helwan University, Department of
Production Engineering ,(Helwan , Cairo) in
1979 and obtained his M.Sc. degree from
Zagazig University , Department of Mechan-
ical Design and power in 1987. He obtained
his Ph.D. degree from Cairo University ,
Department of Mechanical Design and
Production Engineering . His fields of interest
include Computational solid mechanics,
Design and tribology, Stress analysis of composites, Contact
mechanics of deformable solids and Functional graded material
science.
AMAL ELHOSSINY ALSHORBAGY,
associate Professor of Mechanical Design,
Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University.
Graduated from Zagazig University in 1985
and obtained her M.Sc. degree from the same
university in 1990. She obtained her Ph.D.
degree from Zagazig University. Her fields of
interest include Numerical and Experimental
Analyses of Transient Thermo-Elastic Con-
tact of Non-Conformal Deformable Bodies,
Numerical and Experimental Analyses of
bolted Joints in composite materials.
Mohammed Ibrahim Shaat, demonstrator in
the Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig univer-
sity. graduated from Zagazig University in
2007. His fields of interest include analytical
and computational models of structures, finite
element analysis of FG and composite
structures.