Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152

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Composites Part B
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb

Mechanical behavior of functionally graded sandwich plates on elastic

foundation
S.S. Akavci*
Department of Architecture, University of Cukurova, 01330, Balcali, Adana, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A new hyperbolic shear and normal deformation plate theory, presented in this paper, is used to study
Received 19 February 2016 the static, free vibration and buckling analysis of the simply supported functionally graded sandwich
Received in revised form plates on elastic foundation. This theory accounts for the realistic variations of the displacements
30 March 2016
through the thickness. In the analysis, two common types of FGM sandwich plates, namely, homoge-
Accepted 7 April 2016
neous face sheets with FGM core and FGM face sheets with homogeneous core are considered. The
Available online 20 April 2016
elastic foundation is described by the Pasternak model. The equations of motion are derived from
Hamilton's principle. The closed form solutions are obtained by using Navier technique. Numerical re-
Keywords:
A. Layered structures
sults of present theory are compared with three-dimensional elasticity solutions and other higher-order
B. Mechanical properties theories reported in the literature. It can be concluded that the proposed theory is simple and efficient in
C. Analytical modeling predicting the mechanical behavior of functionally graded sandwich plates.
C. Numerical analysis © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction shells of revolution using the generalized zigzag displacement field

and the Carrera Unified Formulation. Barretta et al. [4] founded new
Functionally graded material (FGM) is a type of heterogeneous closed-form solutions of functionally graded beams undergoing
composite material that exhibits a continuous variation of me- nonuniform torsion by detecting axial distributions of longitudinal
chanical properties from one point to another. This material is and shear moduli inducing an axially uniform warping field. Bar-
produced by mixing two or more materials in a certain volume retta et al. [5] analyzed the bending problem of functionally graded
ratio. Material properties of FGM vary along the material size BernoullieEuler nanobeams starting from a nonlocal thermody-
depending on a function. The concept of FGM was first considered namic approach and proposed new nonlocal models. Barretta et al.
in Japan in 1984 during a space plane project. Several studies have [6] investigated the elastic equilibrium of two-phase random
been performed to analyze the mechanical behavior of FG beams, composite beams under torsion, with simply and multiply con-
plates and shells. Tornabene et al. [1] presented the dynamic nected cross-sections. Barretta et al. [7] investigated the small-scale
analysis of doubly-curved shell structures using the generalized effects in nanorods with Young moduli which are functionally
displacement field of the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF), graded in the cross-section domain by nonlocal continuum me-
including the Zig-Zag (ZZ) effect given by the Murakami's function. chanics. Barretta and Luciano [8] proposed an effective solution
Barretta and Luciano [2] proposed a new solution procedure, based procedure, based on an analogy between functionally graded
on a correspondence principle between a linearly elastic, homo- orthotropic Saint-Venant beams under torsion and inhomogeneous
geneous and orthotropic Saint-Venant beam under torsion and an isotropic Kirchhoff plates, with no kinematic boundary constraints.
isotropic linearly viscoelastic and functionally graded Kirchhoff Fantuzzi et al. [9] investigated the dynamic behavior of moderately
plate with no kinematic constraints on the boundary. Tornabene thick FGM plates with geometric discontinuities and arbitrarily
et al. [3] investigated recovery of through-the-thickness transverse curved boundaries.
normal and shear strains and stresses in statically deformed func- In many applications, the sandwich plate is a laminated con-
tionally graded (FG) doubly-curved sandwich shell structures and struction, consists of two or more thin face sheets connected by one
or more thick core in order to achieve superior properties such as
light weight, high strength for noise, vibration, thermal isolation
and long fatigue life, wear resistance. Although sandwich struc-
* Tel.: þ90 322 3387230; fax: þ90 322 3386126.
E-mail address: akavci@cukurova.edu.tr. tures offer advantages to other types of structures, the sudden

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2016.04.035
1359-8368/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152 137

change in material properties across the bond between the face presented the static response of simply supported FGM viscoelastic
sheets and core cause delamination which is the most common sandwich plates subjected to transverse uniform loads. The FG
type of damage for sandwich plates. To overcome this adverse sandwich plates are considered to be resting on Pasternak's elastic
feature, the functionally graded materials (FGMs) can be used. FG foundations. The sandwich plate is assumed to consist of a fully
materials are a type of composite materials whose properties vary elastic core sandwiched by elastic-viscoelastic FGM layers. Neves
gradually and continuously from one surface to another. Because of et al. [22] proposed a variation of Murakami's Zig-Zag theory for the
the continuous change in material properties of a FGM, the in- analysis of FG sandwich plates. The new theory includes a hyper-
terfaces between two materials disappear. Due to this feature, the bolic sine term for the in-plane displacements expansion and ac-
FGMs have some advantages such as eliminating the material counts for through-the-thickness deformation, by considering a
discontinuity and avoiding the delamination failure, reducing the quadratic evolution of the transverse displacement with the
stress levels and deflections. Combination of these characteristics thickness coordinate. Natarajan and Ganapathi [23] investigated
attracts application of FGMs in sandwich structures. the bending and the free flexural vibration behavior of sandwich
The many advantages of sandwich structures attract the engi- FGM plates using QUAD-8 shear flexible element developed based
neers to use them in nearly all phases of structure work from roof on higher order structural theory. The governing equations ob-
and wall panels to the thermal isolation of the buildings, from space tained are solved for static analysis considering two types of
craft to marine vessels. The significant increase in the use of sandwich FGM plates. Viola et al. [24] investigated the static anal-
sandwich structures requires the development of rigorous mathe- ysis of doubly-curved laminated composite shells and panels. A
matical models to predict their response under any given set of theoretical formulation of 2D higher order shear deformation
conditions. For this purpose, several refined theories have been theory has been developed. Tornabene and Reddy [25] focused on
proposed by various authors. Zenkour [10] presented a two- the static analysis of functionally graded (FGM) and laminated
dimensional theory for bending analysis of simply supported FG doubly-curved shells and panels resting on nonlinear and linear
ceramicemetal sandwich plates. The field equations are derived for elastic foundations using the Generalized Differential Quadrature
FG sandwich plates whose deformations are governed by either the (GDQ) method. Viola et al. [26] proposed a 2D higher-order shear
shear deformation theories or the classical theory. Zenkour [11] deformation theory of moderately thick laminated doubly-curved
used the sinusoidal shear deformation plate theory, presented in shells and panels by using differential geometry to define the
the first part of his paper, to study the buckling and free vibration of arbitrary shape of the middle surface of shells and panels with
the simply supported FG sandwich plate. Effects of rotatory inertia different curvatures. Tornabene et al. [27] proposed a general
are considered. The critical buckling load and the vibration natural formulation of a 2D higher-order equivalent single layer theory for
frequency are investigated. Li et al. [12] studied the free vibration of free vibrations of thin and thick doubly-curved laminated com-
FGM sandwich rectangular plates with simply supported and posite shells and panels with different curvatures. Neves et al. [28]
clamped edges based on the three-dimensional linear theory of derived a higher-order shear deformation theory for modeling FG
elasticity. The three displacements of the plates are expanded by a plates accounting for extensibility in the thickness direction. The
series of Chebyshev polynomials multiplied by appropriate func- explicit governing equations and boundary conditions are obtained
tions to satisfy the essential boundary conditions. The natural fre- using the principle of virtual displacements under Carrera's Unified
quencies are obtained by Ritz method. Brischetto [13] analyzed the Formulation. The static and eigen problems are solved by colloca-
bending response of several sandwich plates with a FG core, using tion with radial basis functions. Zenkour [29] presented a refined
advanced equivalent single layer and layerwise models with linear trigonometric higher-order plate theory for bending analysis of
to fourth-order expansion in the thickness direction. The FG simply supported FG ceramicemetal sandwich plates. The effects of
properties of the core have been approximated by means of Leg- transverse shear strains as well as the transverse normal strain are
endre polynomials. Zenkour and Alghamdi [14] studied the taken into account. Kamarian et al. [30] focused on the free vibra-
bending response of sandwich plates subjected to thermo- tion characteristics of FG sandwich rectangular plates resting on
mechanical loads. Field equations for FG sandwich plates whose Pasternak foundations using the three-dimensional elasticity the-
deformations are governed by either the shear deformation the- ory. Xiang et al. [31] used the meshless global collocation method
ories or the classical theory are derived. Displacement functions based on the thin plate spline radial basis function and nth-order
that identically satisfy boundary conditions are used to reduce the shear deformation theory to analyze the free vibration of sand-
governing equations to a set of coupled ordinary differential wich plate with FG face and homogeneous core. Bessaim et al. [32]
equations with variable coefficients. Exact solutions for FGM developed a new higher-order shear and normal deformation
sandwich plates are presented. El Meiche et al. [15] presented a theory for the bending and free vibration analysis of sandwich
new hyperbolic shear deformation theory taking into account plates with FG isotropic face sheets. Tornabene et al. [33] presented
transverse shear deformation effects for the buckling and free vi- the static and dynamic analyses of laminated doubly-curved shells
bration analysis of thick FG sandwich plates. Abdelaziz et al. [16] and panels of revolution resting on the WinklerePasternak elastic
introduced a new displacement based high-order shear deforma- foundation using the generalized differential quadrature (GDQ)
tion theory for the static response of FG sandwich plate. Hadji et al. method. The analyses have been worked out considering the first-
[17] used a four-variable refined plate theory for the free vibration order shear deformation theory (FSDT). Sayyad and Ghugal [34]
analysis of FGM sandwich rectangular plates. Merdaci et al. [18] developed a sinusoidal shear and normal deformation theory tak-
developed two refined displacement models for a bending anal- ing into account effects of transverse shear as well as transverse
ysis of FG sandwich plates. Xiang et al. [19] developed a n-order normal for the analytical solution of the bidirectional bending
model for FG and composite sandwich plate. This model uses the n- analysis of isotropic, transversely isotropic, laminated composite
order polynomial term to represent the displacement field. Carrera and sandwich rectangular plates. Nguyen et al. [35] proposed a new
et al. [20] evaluated the effect of thickness stretching in plate/shell inverse trigonometric shear deformation theory for the static,
structures made by materials which are FG in the thickness di- buckling and free vibration analyses of isotropic and FG sandwich
rections. That is done by removing or retaining the transverse plates. It accounts for inverse trigonometric distribution of trans-
normal strain in the kinematics assumptions of various refined verse shear stress and satisfies the traction free boundary condi-
plate/shell theories. Variable plate/shell models are implemented tions. Thai et al. [36] presented a generalized shear deformation
according to Carrera's Unified Formulation. Zenkour and Shoby [21] theory for static, dynamic and buckling analysis of FGM sandwich
138 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152

plates. Two new distribution functions are proposed in the Governing equations are derived from the Hamilton's principle.
formulation. Thai et al. [37] presented a new first-order shear Navier solution is used to obtain the closed form solutions for
deformation theory for FG sandwich plates composed of FG face simply supported FG sandwich plates. Comparison studies are
sheets and an isotropic homogeneous core. Iurlaro et al. [38] performed to verify the validity of the present results.
extended the original formulation of the Refined Zigzag Theory to
the bending and free vibration analysis of sandwich plates
embedding FG layers, either as faces or core. Nguyen et al. [39] 2. Problem formulation
proposed an improved transverse shear stiffness for vibration and
buckling analysis of FG sandwich plates based on the first-order 2.1. Material properties
shear deformation theory. Liu et al. [40] studied the free vibration
analysis of FGM sandwich plates using a refined higher order Consider a rectangular sandwich plate, having uniform thick-
sandwich panel theory. Mantari and Granados [41] presented a ness h, length a, width b and made of three elastic homogeneous or
static analysis of FG square sandwich plates by using a new first FGM layers (Fig. 1a). The top and bottom faces of the plate are at
shear deformation theory. Mahi et al. [42] presented a new hy- z ¼ ±h/2, and the edges of the plate are parallel to axes x and y. The
perbolic shear deformation theory applicable to bending and free vertical ordinates of the bottom, the two interfaces, and the top are
vibration analysis of isotropic, FG, sandwich and laminated com- denoted by z1 ¼ h/2, z2, z3 and z4 ¼ h/2, respectively.
posite plates. Alibeigloo and Alizadeh [43] presented the static and The effective material properties in each FGM layer are consid-
free vibration behaviors of two types of sandwich plates based on ered to vary gradually through the thickness according to a power-
the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. Taibi et al. [44] pre- law distribution which is given in Equation (1).
sented the thermo-mechanical deformation behavior of shear
deformable functionally graded sandwich plates resting on a two- PðzÞ ¼ Pb þ ðPt  Pb Þ VðzÞ (1)
parameter (Pasternak model) elastic foundation. Mantari and
Granados [45] presents a thermoelastic bending analysis of func- where P denotes the effective material property like Young's
tionally graded sandwich plates by using a new quasi-3D hybrid modulus E, Pt and Pb denotes the property of the top and the bot-
type higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT). Apalak and tom faces of the layer, respectively, and V(z) is the volume fraction
Yildirim [46] carried out the three-dimensional free vibration and given as:
analysis and modal stress analysis of an adhesively bonded com-

posite single lap joint having unidirectional laminated narrow z k
VðzÞ ¼ 0:5 þ (2)
plates. Sofiyev and Kuruoglu [47] investigated he parametric h
instability of simply-supported sandwich cylindrical shell with a
where k is the power-law exponent that defines the gradation of
functionally graded (FG) core under static and time dependent
material properties across the thickness direction. Since the effects
periodic axial compressive loads. Sofiyev [48] investigated the dy-
of Poisson's ratio n on the response of FGM plates are very small, it
namic instability of exponentially graded (EG) sandwich cylindrical
is assumed to be constant.
shells under static and time dependent periodic axial loadings us-
ing the shear deformation theory (SDT).
This paper presents a new quasi-3D hyperbolic shear deforma-
2.2. The studied sandwich plate types
tion theory for analyzing bending stresses, natural frequencies and
buckling loads of FG sandwich plates. The complete effects of shear
In this study, two different types of FGM sandwich plate are
deformations and thickness stretching are taken into account
considered; sandwich plates with FGM face sheets and homoge-
within this quasi-3D theory. The theory accounts for a hyperbolic
neous ceramic or metal core (Fig. 1b) and sandwich plates with
variation of the transverse shear strains across the thickness and
homogeneous face sheets which the bottom sheet is fully metal and
satisfies the zero traction boundary condition on the top and bot-
the top sheet is fully ceramic and FGM core (Fig. 1c). There are no
tom surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factors.
interfaces between core and sheets.

z
a a
b h
x

z4 = h/2
/
z3
z2 Shear layer (k1)
z1 = -h/2
y
Winkler layer (k0)

b z c z

z4 = h/2 z4 = h/2 Ceramic

FGM z3
z3 FGM
Ceramic or Metal z2
z2 Metal
z1 = -h/2
h/2 FGM z1 = -h/2

Fig. 1. a. Geometry of rectangular FGM sandwich plate in Cartesian coordinates. b. Sandwich plates with FGM face sheets and homogeneous ceramic or metal core (Type A). c.
Sandwich plates with homogeneous face sheets and FGM core (Type B).
 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152 139

2.2.1. Sandwich plates with FGM face sheets (type A)

This sandwich plate is made of three-layers: two FGM sheets VðzÞ ¼ 1; where z3 < z < z4 ðtop layerÞ
 
and one homogeneous metal or ceramic core layer. The material z  z2 k
constituents of the bottom sheet varies from a metal-rich surface VðzÞ ¼ 0:5 þ ; where z2 < z < z3 ðFGM coreÞ
z3  z2
(z ¼ z1) to a ceramic-rich surface (z ¼ z2) while the top sheet varies
from a ceramic-rich surface (z ¼ z3) to a metal-rich surface (z ¼ z4), VðzÞ ¼ 0; where z1 < z < z2 ðbottom layerÞ
or vice versa, as illustrated in Fig. 1b. The volume fraction of the (4)
ceramic and metal layers are obtained as
Fig. 3 shows the through-the-thickness variation of the volume
 k fractions of Type-B FGM sandwich plates for (1-8-1) skin-core-skin
z  z4
VðzÞ ¼ ; where z3 < z < z4 ðtop layerÞ ratio.
z 3  z4
VðzÞ ¼ 1; where z2 < z < z3 ðisotropic coreÞ (3) 2.3. A new hyperbolic shear deformation theory
 
z  z1 k
VðzÞ ¼ ; where z1 < z < z3 ðbottom layerÞ On the basis of the thick plate theory and including the effect of
z 2  z1
transverse normal stress (thickness stretching effect), the basic
assumptions for the displacement field of the plate can be
Fig. 2 shows the through-the-thickness variation of the volume described as
fractions of Type-A FGM sandwich plates for different skin-core-
skin ratios. uðx; y; z; tÞ ¼ u0 ðx; y; tÞ  z w0 ðx; y; tÞ;x þ f ðzÞ qx ðx; y; tÞ
vðx; y; z; tÞ ¼ v0 ðx; y; tÞ  z w0 ðx; y; tÞ;y þ f ðzÞ qy ðx; y; tÞ (5)
wðx; y; z; tÞ ¼ w0 ðx; y; tÞ þ f 0 ðzÞ qz ðx; y; tÞ
2.2.2. Sandwich plates with FGM core (type B)
This sandwich plate is made of one inner core, which is graded where, u, v, w are displacements in the x, y, z directions, u0, v0 and
from metal to ceramic and two outside layers which are made of w0 are mid-plane displacements, qx, qy and qz are rotations of
isotropic and homogeneous metal (at the bottom layer) and normals to the midplane about y-axis, x-axis, and z-axis, respec-
ceramic (at the top layer). Fig. 1c illustrates the Type B sandwich tively, and a comma followed by a variable denotes differentiation
plate. The volume fraction of the each layer is with respect to that variable. f(z) is the hyperbolic shape function

0.5 0.5

0.3 0.3
k=0.02 k=0.2 k=1
k=0.02 k=0.2 k=1
0.1 k=2 k=5 0.1
z/h

k=2 k=5
z/h

-0.1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -0.1 0 0.2 0.4 V(z) 0.6 0.8 1
V(z)
-0.3 -0.3

-0.5 -0.5

a.

0.5 0.5
k=0.02 k=0.2 k=1
0.3 k=2 k=5 0.3
k=0.02 k=0.2 k=1
0.1 k=2 k=5
0.1
z/h

z/h

-0.1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -0.1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

-0.3 -0.3

-0.5 -0.5
V(z) V(z)

0.5 0.5

0.3 k=0.02 k=0.2 k=1

0.3
k=0.02 k=0.2 k=1 k=2 k=5
0.1 k=2 k=5
0.1
z/h

z/h

-0.1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -0.1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
V(z)
-0.3 -0.3

-0.5 -0.5
V(z)

Fig. 2. Through-the-thickness variation of volume fraction function for different skin-core-skin ratios in Type A FGM plates a. The (1-2-1) FGM sandwich plate, b. The (2-1-2) FGM
sandwich plate, c. The (1-0-1) FGM sandwich plate, d. The (2-2-1) FGM sandwich plate, e. The (2-1-1) FGM sandwich plate f. The (1-8-1) FGM sandwich plate.
140 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152

vu0 0 vv0 0 vu vv
0.5
k=0.02 k=0.2 k=1 ε0x ¼ ; ε ¼ ; gxy ¼ 0 þ 0 ;
vx y vy vy vx
k=2 k=5
0.3
v2 w0 v2 w0 v2 w0
kx ¼ 2
; ky ¼ 2
; kxy ¼ 2 ;
vx vy vxvy
0.1 (8)
z/h

vqx q vqy q vqx vqy

kqx ¼ ; k ¼ ; k ¼ þ ;
-0.1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 vx y vy xy vy vx
V(z)
vqz q vqz
-0.3 kqyz ¼ qy þ ; k ¼ qx þ
vy xz vx
-0.5 For the case of isotropic FGM the three dimensional constitutive
equations can be expressed as
Fig. 3. Through-the-thickness variation of volume fraction function for Type B (1-8-1)
8 9 2 3
FGM sandwich plate.
> sxx > Q11 Q12 Q12 0 0 0 8 > εxx
9
>
>
> >
> 6 Q12 >
> εyy >
>
>
> s >
> 6 Q11 Q12 0 0 0 77>
> >
>
which represents the distribution of the transverse shear dis- < yy = 6 Q12 < =
szz Q12 Q11 0 0 0 77 εzz
placements along the thickness. Note that f’(z) ¼ 0 for 2D analysis. ¼6
6 0 (9)
>
> txy >
> 6 0 0 Q44 0 0 77>
>
gxy >
>
>
> >
> >g >
The chosen hyperbolic shape function in this study is
: tyz
> >
;
4 0 0 0 0 Q55 0 5>>
: yz
>
>
;
txz 0 0 0 0 0 Q66 gxz

 df ðzÞ
f ðzÞ ¼ 3:7 z 1:27 Sech0:65 ðz=hÞ  1 and f 0 ðzÞ ¼ (6)
dz in which (sxx, syy, szz,txy, tyz, txz) and (εxx, εyy, εzz, gxy, gyz, gxz) are
the stress and strain components, respectively. The elastic con-
The shape function in Equation (6) assures an accurate distri-
stants (Qij's) are depends on the normal strain εzz.
bution of shear deformation through the plate thickness and allows
to transverse shear stresses vary as parabolic across the thickness as If the εzz s0 then Q ij 0 s are; If the εzz ¼ 0 then Q ij 0 s are;
.

satisfying shear stress free surface conditions without using shear
Q11 ¼ EðzÞ ð1  yÞ=ð1  2yÞð1 þ yÞ Q11 ¼ EðzÞ 1  y2
correction factors. This hyperbolic shear deformation theory ac- .

counts for not only shear deformations but also the thickness Q12 ¼ EðzÞ y=ð1  2yÞð1 þ yÞ Q12 ¼ EðzÞ y 1  y2
stretching effect. In addition, this formula is suitable for different Q 44 ¼ Q 55 ¼ Q 66 ¼ GðzÞ Q 44 ¼ Q 55 ¼ Q 66 ¼ GðzÞ
FGM sandwich plates and easy to implement. The numerical ex- GðzÞ ¼ EðzÞ=2ð1 þ yÞ GðzÞ ¼ EðzÞ=2ð1 þ yÞ
amples show that the present theory shows good agreement with (10)
that of the results of other 2D and quasi-3D shear deformation
theories. Also, the results predicted by the proposed theory are in
2.4. Equations of motion
an excellent agreement with 3D elasticity solutions even for the
case of very thick plates.
The equations of motion for FG sandwich plates are derived by
Based on the assumptions in Eq. (5), the strains can be related to
The Hamilton Principle. The principle can be stated in analytical
the displacement field as
form as:
8 9 8 0 9 8 9 8 9 Zt2
> εx > > kqx >  
>
> εx >
> >
> >
> >
> kx >
> >
> > > d V þ Vp þ Ve þ Vi  T dt ¼ 0 (11)
< = < = < = < =
0
εy ¼ εy  z ky þ f ðzÞ kq y
t1
>
> > > > > > > >
:g > ; > : 0 >
> >
;
>
: >
; >
>
:
>
>
; where; V is the strain energy of the plate and Vp is the potential
xy gxy kxy kq (7) energy of applied distributed transverse load, Ve and Vi are the
xy
( ) 8 9 potential energy of elastic foundation and applied in-plane stresses
df ðzÞ < kyz =
q
gyz d2 f ðzÞ and T is the kinetic energy of FG plate.
¼ ; εz ¼ qz
gxz dz : ; dz2 The governing equations of motion can be derived from Equa-
kq
xz
tion (11) by integrating the displacement gradients by parts and
setting the coefficients du, dv, dw, dqx, dqy, and dqz zero separately:

Nx;x þ Nxy;y þ N x h u0;xx þ N y h u0;yy ¼ I1 u € 0;x þ I4 €

€ 0  I2 w qx
Nxy;x þ Ny;y þ Nx h v0;xx þ N y h v0;yy ¼ I1 € € 0;y þ I4 €
v0  I2 w qy
 3  
h h3 h3 h3
Mx;xx þ 2Mxy;xy þ My;yy þ N x  w0;xxxx þ c1 qx;xxx  w0;xxyy þ c1 qy;xxy þ h w0;xx þ c2 qz;xx þ N y  w0;xxyy þ c1 qx;xyy  w0;yyyy
12 12 12 12


     
þc1 qy;yyy þ h w0;yy þ c2 qz;yy  k0 w0 þ k1 w0;xx þ w0;yy þ q ¼ I1 w€ 0 þ I2 u€ 0;x þ €
v0;y  I3 w € 0;yy þ I5 €
€ 0;xx þ w qx;x þ €qy;y þ I7 €qz
   
Px;x þ Pxy;y  Rx þ N x  c1 w0;xxx þ c3 qx;xx þ N y  c1 w0;yyy þ c3 qx;yy ¼ I4 u € 0;x þ I6 €
€ 0  I5 w qx
   
Pxy;x þ Py;y  Ry þ N x  c1 w0;xxy þ c3 qy;xx þ Ny  c1 w0;yyy þ c3 qy;yy ¼ I4 €v0  I5 w€ 0;y þ I6 €
qy
    0
€ 0 þ I8 €
Rx;x þ Ry;y  Sz þ N x c2 w0;xx þ c4 qz;xx þ Ny c2 w0;yy þ c4 qz;yy þ f q ¼ I7 w qz
(12)
 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152 141

In Equation (12), q is the applied distributed transverse load, k0 in which; u is the eigenfrequency and l is the buckling load factor
and k1 are the Winkler and the shear stiffness of the elastic foun- associated with (m,n)th eigenmode. Note that; in free vibration
dation, Nx and Ny are in-plane compressive loading on the sides of analysis, {P} ¼ {0}. In Equations 16 and 17;
plate and the other stress, moment resultants, stiffness compo-
nents and inertias are defined in Appendix.

3. Navier solution and boundary conditions for simply

supported rectangular FG sandwich plates
Table 1
For a simply supported rectangular FG plate with length a and Material properties used in the functionally graded plates.
width b, the kinematic boundary conditions are given below:
Material Properties
Nx ¼ v ¼ w ¼ Mx ¼ Px ¼ Ry ¼ Sz ¼ qy ¼ qz ¼ 0 at x ¼ 0; a
E (GPa) n r (kg/m3)
Ny ¼ u ¼ w ¼ My ¼ Py ¼ Rx ¼ Sz ¼ qx ¼ qz ¼ 0 at y ¼ 0; b
Aluminum (Al) 70 0.3 2707
(13) Alumina (Al2O3) 380 0.3 3800
Zirconia-1 (ZrO2)1 151 0.3 3000
For the analytical solution of the partial differential equation (12), Zirconia-2(ZrO2)2 200 0.3 5700
the Navier method, based on double Fourier series, is used for the Zirconia-3(ZrO2)3 117 1/3
simply supported boundary conditions (13). Using Navier's proce- Titanium (Tie6Ale4V) 66.2 1/3
dure, the solution of the displacement variables satisfying the above
boundary conditions can be expressed in the following Fourier series:

P
∞ P
∞ mpx npy iut X
∞ X
∞
mpx npy iut
uðx; yÞ ¼ Amn cos sin e ; qx ðx; yÞ ¼ Tx mn cos sin e
m¼1 n¼1 a b m¼1 n¼1
a b

P
∞ P
∞ mpx npy iut X
∞ X
∞
mpx npy iut
vðx; yÞ ¼ Bmn sin cos e ; qy ðx; yÞ ¼ Ty mn sin cos e (14)
m¼1 n¼1 a b m¼1 n¼1
a b

P
∞ P
∞ mpx npy iut X
∞ X
∞
mpx npy iut
wðx; yÞ ¼ Cmn sin sin e ; qz ðx; yÞ ¼ Tz mn sin sin e
m¼1 n¼1 a b m¼1 n¼1
a b

where Amn, Bmn, Cmn, Txmn, Tymn, Tzmn are arbitrary parameters to be 2 3
a11 a12 a13 a14 a15 a16
determined. 6
The transverse distributed load q (x,y) is also expanded double 6 a22 a23 a24 a25 a26 7
7
6 7
Fourier series as; 6 a33 a34 a35 a36 7
½K ¼ 6
6
7;
6 a44 a45 a46 7
7
6 7
4 SYM a55 a56 5
X
∞ X
∞
mpx npy
qðx; yÞ ¼ qmn sin sin (15) a66
m¼1 n¼1
a b 2 3
m11 0 m13 m14 0 0
The coefficients qmn are given below for some general loadings; 6 m22 m23 0 m25 0 7
6 7
6 7
6 m33 m34 m35 m36 7
½M ¼ 6
6
7
For uniformly distributed load; qmn 6 m44 0 0 77
8 6 7
< 16 q0 m; n ¼ 1; 3; 5; ::: 4 SYM m55 0 5
¼ mnp2 m66
: 8 9 8 9 (18)
0 m; n ¼ 2; 4; 6; ::: >
>
Amn >
> >
>
0 >
>
>
> > > >
>
>
> Bmn >>
>
>
>
>
>
>
0 >
>
>
>
For sinusoidal distributed load; qmn ¼ q0 in which q0 is the in- > > > >
<C = < q =
tensity of the load. mn
fDg ¼ ; fPg ¼ ;
Substituting the stress and moment resultants defined in >
> Txmn >
> >
> 0 >
>
>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> > > >
Appendix and the Equation (14) into equations of motion (12) we > Tymn >
> >
>
>
>
> 0 >
>
>
get below closed-form solutions for bending and free vibration : ; : 0 ;
Tzmn f ðz ¼ h=2Þ q
problems; 2 3
n11 0 0 0 0 0

 6 n22 0 0 0 0 7
6 7
½K  u2 ½M fDg ¼ fPg (16) 6 7
 6 n33 n34 n35 n36 7
N ¼6 6
7
6 n44 0 0 77
and for buckling problems of FG sandwich plate; 6 7
4 SYM n55 0 5
n66
ð½K  l½NÞ fDg ¼ f0g (17)
in which the aij's, mij's and nij's (i,j ¼ 1, … ,6) are given in Appendix.
142 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152

4. Numerical results graded from metal to ceramic and top skin is graded from ceramic
to metal. The core is fully ceramic. In Table 2, non-dimensional
The objective of this section is to show the accuracy of the center displacements and non-dimensional axial stresses of the
present formulation and then to search the effects of elastic foun- plate for different skin-core-skin ratios are compared with the
dation on the mechanical behavior of FG sandwich plates. For this different two and quasi-three dimensional theories. Results of all
purpose some numerical examples are solved with present theories are in good agreement and it is observed that the results
formulation and the results are compared with the existing results are obtained by present theory are very close to the other quasi-
of other 3D, quasi-3D and 2D shear theories in literature. three dimensional results of Neves [22], Zenkour [29] and Bes-
The material properties of the used FGM's are listed in Table 1. saim [32]. It can be concluded from the table that the quasi-3D
For all the computations, the Poisson's ratio is taken as 0.3. In fig- theories which take thickness stretching effect into account, ob-
ures and tables, unless otherwise has been stated, the non- tained lower transverse displacement and higher axial stress than
dimensional quantities are defined as follows; the 2D plate models which eliminate the stretching effect. It is also

   
a   
10 hE0 a b 10 h2 a b h h b
wðzÞ ¼ w ; ; z ; sx ðzÞ ¼ sx ; ; z ; t yz ðzÞ ¼ t yz ; 0; z ; t xz ðzÞ ¼ txz 0; ; z ;
a2 q0 2 2 a2 q0 2 2 a 2 a 2
. pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi . . . .


u ¼ ua2 h r0 =E0 ; l ¼ Nx a2 100h3 ; Kw ¼ k0 a4 Dc ; Ks ¼ k1 a2 Dc ; Dc ¼ Ec h3 12 1  y2 ;
.
E0 ¼ 1 GPa; r0 ¼ 1 kg m3

4.1. Static analysis seen from the table that, increasing value of the power-law expo-
nent k increases the center displacement in all sequences. The
As the first example, the accuracy of present study is tested for a difference between results of different theories is insignificant for
simply supported, Type A, Al/(ZrO2)1 FG sandwich square plate fully ceramic plates (k ¼ 0).
under sinusoidally distributed load. The bottom skin of the plate is

Table 2    
w 2a; 2b; 0 and non-dimensional axial stress sx ðzÞ ¼ 10h s a; b; h of Al/(ZrO2)1 FG sandwich square plate under sinu-
2
Non-dimensional center displacement wðzÞ ¼ 10hEa2 q0
0
a2 q0 x 2 2 2
soidally distributed load (a/h ¼ 10) (Type A).

k Theory εz wðzÞ sx ðzÞ

2-1-2 1-1-1 2-2-1 1-2-1 2-1-2 1-1-1 2-2-1 1-2-1

0 Zenkour [10] ¼0 0.19605 0.19605 0.19605 0.19605 2.05452 2.05452 2.05452 2.05452
Neves et al. [22] ¼0 0.19610 0.19610 0.19610 0.19610 1.99470 1.99470 1.99460 1.99460
Neves et al. [22] s0 0.19490 0.19490 0.19490 0.19490 2.00660 2.00660 2.00650 2.00640
Zenkour [29] s0 0.19487 0.19487 0.19487 0.19487 2.00773 2.00773 2.00773 2.00773
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.19486 0.19486 0.19486 0.19486 1.99524 1.99524 1.99524 1.99524
Nguyen et al. [35] ¼0 0.19597 0.19597 0.19597 0.19597 1.99482 1.99482 1.99482 1.99482
Present Study ¼0 0.19605 0.19605 0.19605 0.19605 1.99516 1.99516 1.99516 1.99516
Present Study s0 0.19466 0.19466 0.19466 0.19466 2.0730 2.0730 2.0730 2.0730

1 Zenkour [10] ¼0 0.30624 0.29194 0.28082 0.27093 1.49859 1.42892 1.32342 1.32590
Neves et al. [22] ¼0 0.30900 0.29490 0.28380 0.27400 1.47420 1.40670 1.30260 1.30640
Neves et al. [22] s0 0.30700 0.29290 0.28200 0.27220 1.48130 1.41370 1.30920 1.31330
Zenkour [29] s0 0.30275 0.28867 0.27760 0.26815 1.48833 1.41781 1.30907 1.31204
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.30430 0.29007 0.27874 0.26915 1.46131 1.39243 1.28274 1.29030
Nguyen et al. [35] ¼0 0.30622 0.29191 0.28077 0.27086 1.46297 1.39406 1.28852 1.29174
Present Study ¼0 0.30627 0.29196 0.28083 0.27093 1.46322 1.39432 1.28879 1.29201
Present Study s0 0.30398 0.28977 0.27847 0.26891 1.52514 1.45397 1.34177 1.34783

2 Zenkour [10] ¼0 0.35218 0.33280 0.31611 0.30260 1.72412 1.63025 1.47387 1.48283
Neves et al. [22] ¼0 0.35420 0.33510 0.31860 0.30530 1.69200 1.60170 1.44760 1.45880
Neves et al. [22] s0 0.35190 0.33290 0.31640 0.30320 1.69940 1.60880 1.45430 1.46590
Zenkour [29] s0 0.34737 0.32816 0.31152 0.29874 1.72030 1.62591 1.46372 1.47421
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.35001 0.33068 0.31356 0.30060 1.68472 1.59170 1.42887 1.44497
Nguyen et al. [35] ¼0 0.35221 0.33279 0.31608 0.30255 1.68682 1.59393 1.43693 1.44707
Present Study ¼0 0.35222 0.33282 0.31613 0.30261 1.68708 1.59420 1.43723 1.44736
Present Study s0 0.34957 0.33030 0.31319 0.30031 1.75757 1.66237 1.49644 1.51084

10 Zenkour [10] ¼0 0.40376 0.38490 0.34916 0.34119 1.97313 1.88147 1.61979 1.64851
Neves et al. [22] ¼0 0.40510 0.38680 0.36370 0.35030 1.93160 1.84850 1.63270 1.67610
Neves et al. [22] s0 0.40260 0.38430 0.36120 0.34800 1.93970 1.85590 1.63950 1.68320
Zenkour [29] s0 0.39856 0.37924 0.35577 0.34259 1.97075 1.89162 2.18558 1.67350
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.40153 0.38303 0.35885 0.34591 1.93266 1.84705 1.61792 1.66754
Nguyen et al. [35] ¼0 0.40393 0.38540 0.36202 0.34815 1.93431 1.84933 1.62840 1.67019
Present Study ¼0 0.40390 0.38538 0.36204 0.34817 1.93451 1.84956 1.62871 1.67048
Present Study s0 0.40094 0.38248 0.35823 0.34549 2.01036 1.92481 1.69436 1.74262
 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152 143

Fig. 4. Variation of center displacement and stresses through-the-thickness for 1-2-1 FGM sandwich plates with Type A.

Figs. 4e5 show the displacement and stresses through the In Table 4 non-dimensional center displacements of Tie6Ale4V/
thickness of the simply supported Al/Al2O3 sandwich square plates (ZrO2)3 FGM sandwich plate on elastic foundation under sinusoi-
with Type A, subjected to sinusoidal load at the top, for various dally distributed load (Type A with homogeneous hardcore) are
values of power-law exponent (a/h ¼ 10). The bottom skin of the given as compared with the results of 2D theory of Taibi et al. [44].
plate is graded from metal to ceramic and top skin is graded from The results show that the existence of elastic foundation decreases
ceramic to metal. The results are plotted by using both the 2D and the plate center displacement for all type of scheme of plates. And it
quasi-3D shear deformation theories. is evident that the effect of shear stiffness coefficient of foundation
A further comparison is shown in Table 3 for the results of is more effective than the Winkler coefficient.
square sandwich plate with Al/Al2O3 FG core (Type B) under si- The effects of elastic foundation on stresses and center dis-
nusoidal load for different power-law exponents. The skins are placements of square Al/Al2O3 FG sandwich plates with Type A (2-
aluminum at the bottom and alumina at the top. The internal core 1-2) under sinusoidal distributed load are presented at Figs. 6e8 (a/
is graded from metal to ceramic according to the polynomial law h ¼ 10). In Fig. 6, transverse displacements of FG sandwich plate
in Eq. (4). From Table 3, when the present theory is compared with along the side of y ¼ b/2 are shown at three dimensional coordinate
the three dimensional solution of Carrera et al. [20], quasi-3D system. Fig. 6a shows the effect of power-law exponent k on
theory of Neves [22] and Alibeigloo and Alizadeh [43] and two transverse displacement. As seen from figure that, the increasing
dimensional theory of Mantari and Granados [41], we can value of power-law exponent results the increasing value of
conclude that the present theory is correct and accurate. It is also transverse displacement. In Fig. 6b and c, the transverse displace-
observed from the table that, the shear stress txz is decreasing and ments are drawn when the elastic foundation existence. The figures
the center displacement w is increasing with increasing power-law definitely show that the elastic foundation decreases the transverse
exponent k. displacement and shear stiffness of foundation is more effective

Fig. 5. Variation of center displacement and stresses through-the-thickness for 2-2-1 FGM sandwich plates with Type A.
144 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152

Table 3    
3
Non-dimensional center displacement wðzÞ ¼ 10h
a4 q0
Ec
w 2a; 2b; 0 and shear stress txz ðzÞ ¼ ha txz 2a; 2b; h6 of Al/Al2O3 FGM sandwich square plate under sinusoidally distributed
load (Type B) (1-8-1).

k Theory εz wð0Þ txz ðh=6Þ

a/h ¼ 4 a/h ¼ 10 a/h ¼ 100 a/h ¼ 4 a/h ¼ 10 a/h ¼ 100

1 Carrera et al. [20] s0 0.7628 0.6324 0.6072 0.2604 0.2594 0.2593

Neves et al. [22] s0 0.7417 0.6305 0.6086 0.2747 0.2793 0.2816
Mantari and Granados [41] ¼0 0.7739 0.6337 0.6073 0.2458 0.2458 0.2458
Alibeigloo and Alizadeh [43] s0 0.6967 0.6218 0.6065 0.2612 0.2604 0.2602
Present ¼0 0.7723 0.6336 0.6073 0.2724 0.2735 0.2737
Present s0 0.72655 0.60529 0.5820 0.2719 0.2729 0.2732

4 Carrera et al. [20] s0 1.0930 0.8307 0.7797 0.2400 0.2398 0.2398

Neves et al. [22] s0 1.0378 0.8200 0.7778 0.2732 0.2789 0.2805
Mantari and Granados [41] ¼0 1.0285 0.8191 0.7796 0.1877 0.1877 0.1877
Alibeigloo and Alizadeh [43] s0 0.9958 0.8172 0.7804 0.2396 0.2397 0.2397
Present ¼0 1.0844 0.8283 0.7797 0.2637 0.2652 0.2655
Present s0 1.0172 0.78081 0.7355 0.2632 0.2648 0.2651

10 Carrera et al. [20] s0 1.2172 0.8740 0.8077 0.1932 0.1944 0.1946

Neves et al. [22] s0 1.1753 0.8645 0.8045 0.2013 0.2055 0.2065
Mantari and Granados [41] ¼0 1.1108 0.8556 0.8074 0.1234 0.1234 0.1234
Alibeigloo and Alizadeh [43] s0 1.1231 0.8629 0.8098 0.2269 0.2297 0.2303
Present ¼0 1.2199 0.8735 0.8077 0.1935 0.1947 0.1949
Present s0 1.15664 0.83224 0.7701 0.1931 0.1944 0.1947

than Winkler coefficient to decrease the displacements. In Fig. 7 law index the stresses decrease monotonically. And insignificant
and Fig. 8a and b, influences of foundation stiffness on the change occurs in the stresses with the greater values of k than 5.
stresses of FG sandwich plate are plotted. It is seen from the figures
that the axial normal and transverse shear stresses decrease 4.2. Free vibration analysis
gradually with the increasing value of foundation stiffness.
Although the increasing value of Winkler stiffness results the In this section, to show the accuracy and efficiency of the pre-
decreasing values of stresses too, the effect of shear stiffness of sent theory in predicting the free vibration responses of simply
foundation is more obvious. Also, the effects of power-law index on supported FG sandwich plates, various numerical examples are
stresses, in the presence of elastic foundation, are presented in presented and results compared with the ones available in the
Fig. 7 and Fig. 8c. It is seen that, with the increasing value of power- literature. According to author's knowledge, the free vibration

Table 4
 
2
Non-dimensional center displacement wðzÞ ¼ 10 Dc
a4q0 w
a b
2; 2; 0 of Tie6Ale4V/(ZrO2)3 FGM sandwich plate on elastic foundation under sinusoidally distributed load (a/h ¼ 10, b/

a ¼ 2, q0 ¼ 100) (Type A with homogeneous hardcore).

k Theory εz (Kw, Ks)

0,0 100,0 0,100 100,100

1-0-1 0 Taibi et al. [44] ¼0 0.681308 0.405225 0.0836524 0.077194

Present Study ¼0 0.681312 0.405227 0.0724388 0.067545
Present Study s0 0.677195 0.404967 0.0728693 0.067958
0.5 Taibi et al. [44] ¼0 0.886739 0.469985 0.0861015 0.079275
Present Study ¼0 0.886652 0.46996 0.0742675 0.0691331
Present Study s0 0.881167 0.470028 0.0747292 0.0695684
2 Taibi et al. [44] ¼0 1.109938 0.526052 0.087816 0.080727
Present Study ¼0 1.10959 0.525975 0.0755388 0.0702334
Present Study s0 1.10267 0.526445 0.0760263 0.0706912

3-1-3 0.5 Taibi et al. [44] ¼0 0.868596 0.464839 0.085927 0.079128

Present Study ¼0 0.868519 0.464817 0.0741378 0.0690208
Present Study s0 0.86314 0.464849 0.0745969 0.0694537
2 Taibi et al. [44] ¼0 1.08997 0.519461 0.0876306 0.0805702
Present Study ¼0 1.08066 0.519388 0.0754013 0.0701146
Present Study s0 1.07386 0.519785 0.0758855 0.0705695

2-1-2 0.5 Taibi et al. [44] ¼0 0.8604107 0.462484 0.0858464 0.079059

Present Study ¼0 0.860344 0.462465 0.0740777 0.0689687
Present Study s0 0.855014 0.462481 0.0745356 0.0694005
2 Taibi et al. [44] ¼0 1.066384 0.516062 0.0875334 0.080488
Present Study ¼0 1.06607 0.051599 0.0753294 0.0700524
Present Study s0 1.05934 0.516358 0.0758117 0.705056

1-1-1 0.5 Taibi et al. [44] ¼0 0.838977 0.456219 0.0856283 0.0788745

Present Study ¼0 0.838943 0.456209 0.0739154 0.068828
Present Study s0 0.833746 0.456185 0.0743699 0.0692568
2 Taibi et al. [44] ¼0 1.024387 0.506023 0.0872398 0.0872398
Present Study ¼0 1.02417 0.505971 0.0751123 0.0698646
Present Study s0 1.01766 0.506246 0.0755889 0.0703128
 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152 145

Fig. 6. Variation of transverse displacement along the side y ¼ b/2 for Al/Al2O3 FG sandwich plates with Type A (2-1-2) (a/h ¼ 10).

Fig. 7. Variation of axial stresses through-the-thickness for 2-1-2 FGM sandwich plates with Type A on elastic foundation a. k ¼ 2, Kw ¼ 10, b. k ¼ 2, Ks ¼ 10, c. Kw ¼ Ks ¼ 10.

response of FG sandwich plates on elastic foundation is not avail- sandwich plate decreases with the increasing value of power-law
able on literature so the comparison studies are done only in the exponent. It is also noted that, the natural frequencies of plate in-
absence of elastic foundation. crease as the core thickness of plate increases.
The next three examples are performed for Al/Al2O3 thick FG In Table 6, to verify the higher order modes for FG sandwich
square sandwich plates with Type A. Table 5 shows non- plates, the first ten frequencies of the square Al/Al2O3 FG hardcore
dimensional natural frequencies of square Al/Al2O3 sandwich sandwich plates are computed and compared with 2D shear
plates with hardcore. The results of present theory are compared deformation theories of Zenkour [11] and El Meiche et al. [15] and
with the results of 2D trigonometric shear deformation theory of first order shear deformation theory of Nguyen et al. [39]. As it is
Zenkour [11], 3D linear elasticity theory of Li et al. [12], quasi 3D seen from the table, the present theories are in good agreement
shear deformation theories of Natarajan and Ganapathi [23] and with those reported by the other first and 2D theories of [11,15,39],
Bessaim et al. [32]. It can be seen from Table 5 that, the results of particularly at the higher modes of vibration. It is seen from the
present theory are an excellent agreement with those of the other table that when the effects of normal deformations are neglected,
theories. The table shows that, the natural frequencies of FG the natural frequencies of FG plates are found lower.
146 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152

Fig. 8. Variation of transverse shear stresses through-the-thickness for 2-1-2 FGM sandwich plates with Type A on elastic foundation a. k ¼ 2, Kw ¼ 10, b. k ¼ 2, Ks ¼ 10, c.
Kw ¼ Ks ¼ 10.

Table 5 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Non-dimensional natural frequencies u ¼ ua2 =h r0 =E0 for simply supported square Al/Al2O3 FGM sandwich plate (Type A with homogeneous hardcore).

a/h k Theory εz 1-0-1 2-1-2 1-1-1 2-2-1 1-2-1

5 0 Li et al. [12] s0 1.67711 1.67711 1.67711 1.67711 1.67711

Bessaim et al. [32] s0 1.67724 1.67724 1.67724 1.67724 1.67724
Present Study ¼0 1.67024 1.67024 1.67024 1.67024 1.67024
Present Study s0 1.67896 1.67896 1.67896 1.67896 1.67896
5 Li et al. [12] s0 0.89086 0.93362 0.99798 1.05607 1.11900
Natarajan and Ganapathi [23] s0 0.9986 1.0565 1.1192
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.89853 0.94028 1.00051 1.06419 1.11939
Present Study ¼0 0.895295 0.936451 0.995794 1.05305 1.11327
Present Study s0 0.90006 0.941646 1.00168 1.06572 1.12017
10 Li et al. [12] s0 0.86833 0.89228 0.94984 1.00949 1.07290
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.87544 0.90305 0.95490 1.02092 1.07343
Present Study ¼0 0.872543 0.899797 0.950751 1.00932 1.06769
Present Study s0 0.87705 0.904511 0.956193 1.0228 1.07432

10 0 Zenkour [11] ¼0 1.82452 1.82452 1.82452 1.82452 1.82452

Li et al. [12] s0 1.82682 1.82682 1.82682 1.82682 1.82682
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 1.82682 1.82682 1.82682 1.82682 1.82682
Present Study ¼0 1.82449 1.82449 1.82449 1.82449 1.82449
Present Study s0 1.82804 1.82804 1.82804 1.82804 1.82804
5 Zenkour [11] ¼0 0.94630 0.98207 1.04481 1.14741 1.17399
Li et al. [12] s0 0.94476 0.98103 1.04532 1.10983 1.17567
Natarajan and Ganapathi [23] s0 1.0455 1.1100 1.1757
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.94716 0.98311 1.04613 1.11723 1.17579
Present Study ¼0 0.946187 0.981992 1.04476 1.10904 1.17399
Present Study s0 0.948031 0.983994 1.04699 1.11859 1.17649
10 Zenkour [11] ¼0 0.92875 0.94332 0.99519 1.04154 1.13460
Li et al. [12] s0 0.92727 0.94078 0.99523 1.06104 1.12466
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.92952 0.94410 0.99684 1.07015 1.12486
Present Study ¼0 0.928621 0.943148 0.995631 1.06115 1.12317
Present Study s0 0.930371 0.944983 0.997733 1.07186 1.12561

Table 7 shows non-dimensional fundamental frequencies of Al/ The next example is performed for square Al/(ZrO2)2 FG sand-
Al2O3 FG square plates with softcore. The results of present theory wich plates with Type A and soft and hardcore. In Figs.9 and 10, the
are compared with the results of the 3D linear elasticity theory of Li variations of natural frequencies with power-law index are plotted
et al. [12] and quasi 3D shear deformation theory of Bessaim et al. for different aspect ratios. It is seen from the figures that, the nat-
[32]. It can be seen from Table 7 that, the results of present quasi-3D ural frequencies increase with increasing value of the aspect ratio
theory are in good agreement with the results of other 3D and for both softcore and hardcore plates. For hardcore sandwich
quasi-3D theories. The small difference between the present 2d and plates, it can be seen from these figures that, while the increasing
quasi-3D shear deformation theory results is due to the neglecting value of power-lax index leads to the decreasing value of natural
the thickness stretching effect. frequency, if the value of power-law index is greater than 5, the
 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152 147

Table 6 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Non-dimensional natural frequencies u ¼ ua2 =h r0 =E0 for simply supported square Al/Al2O3 FGM sandwich plates (Type A, a/h ¼ 10, k ¼ 2).

Theory εz Mode No (m,n)

(1,1) (1,2) (2,2) (1,3) (2,3) (1,4) (3,3) (2,4) (3,4) (4,4)

1-2-1 Zenkour [11] ¼0 1.30244 3.15686 4.90849 6.02622 7.63601 9.67121 10.16193 11.12321 13.41755 16.39820
El Meiche et al. [15] ¼0 1.30250 3.15726 4.90978 6.02866 7.64154 9.68465 10.17821 11.14644 13.46652 16.50693
Nguyen et al. [39] ¼0 1.30230 3.15631 4.90792 6.02622 7.63842 9.68108 10.17464 11.14296 13.46402 16.50757
Present Study ¼0 1.30244 3.15694 4.90901 6.02749 7.63966 9.68163 10.17490 11.14250 13.46070 16.49840
Present Study s0 1.30511 3.17001 4.93846 6.07048 7.70614 9.78411 10.28700 11.27470 13.64650 16.76500

2-2-1 Zenkour [11] ¼0 1.26780 3.07382 4.78065 5.87022 7.44002 9.42552 9.90439 10.84261 13.08260 15.99393
El Meiche et al. [15] ¼0 1.24375 3.01698 4.69456 5.76658 7.31319 9.27437 9.74847 10.67885 12.91005 15.83764
Nguyen et al. [39] ¼0 1.24360 3.01630 4.69323 5.76484 7.31097 9.27185 9.74595 10.67641 12.90836 15.83825
Present Study ¼0 1.24392 3.01795 4.69676 5.76977 7.31805 9.28169 9.75642 10.68810 12.92270 15.85500
Present Study s0 1.25087 3.04055 4.73990 5.82874 7.40333 9.40583 9.89083 10.84360 13.13360 16.14810

Table 7 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Non-dimensional natural frequencies u ¼ ua2 =h r0 =E0 for simply supported square Al/Al2O3 FGM sandwich plates (Type A with homogeneous softcore).

Theory εz a/h ¼ 5 a/h ¼ 10

0 0.5 1 5 10 0 0.5 1 5 10

1-0-1 Li et al. [12] s0 0.85286 1.37894 1.50896 1.65868 1.67278 0.92897 1.57352 1.72227 1.84198 1.84020
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.85290 1.38773 1.52368 1.52368 1.67540 0.92897 1.57705 1.72814 1.84465 1.84113
Present Study ¼0 0.849345 1.38007 1.51426 1.65676 1.66712 0.927781 1.57414 1.72458 1.84143 1.83829
Present Study s0 0.853778 1.38680 1.52207 1.66583 1.67614 0.929587 1.57714 1.72801 1.84522 1.84202

2-1-2 Li et al. [12] s0 0.85286 1.32061 1.43325 1.58011 1.60909 0.92897 1.52588 1.67437 1.82611 1.83987
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.85290 1.33281 1.46132 1.62565 1.64714 0.92897 1.53096 1.68625 1.84456 1.85489
Present Study ¼0 0.849345 1.32499 1.45064 1.61288 1.63502 0.927781 1.52786 1.68199 1.83973 1.85041
Present Study s0 0.853778 1.33116 1.45784 1.62178 1.64417 0.929587 1.53070 1.68527 1.84363 1.85436

1-1-1 Li et al. [12] s0 0.85286 1.28053 1.38242 1.50284 1.52671 0.92897 1.48459 1.63053 1.78956 1.80813
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.85290 1.28989 1.40877 1.57369 1.60063 0.92897 1.48853 1.64199 1.82032 1.83973
Present Study ¼0 0.849345 1.28268 1.39834 1.55880 1.58580 0.927781 1.48565 1.63771 1.81435 1.83390
Present Study s0 0.853778 1.28847 1.40495 1.56709 1.59444 0.929587 1.48832 1.64078 1.81812 1.83777

2-2-1 Li et al. [12] s0 0.85286 1.24533 1.34203 1.46009 1.48306 0.92897 1.43419 1.57037 1.72726 1.74779
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.85290 1.25626 1.36935 1.53006 1.55740 0.92897 1.44040 1.58430 1.75972 1.78163
Present Study ¼0 0.849345 1.24854 1.35874 1.51598 1.54349 0.927781 1.43560 1.57761 1.75149 1.77370
Present Study s0 0.853778 1.25601 1.36758 1.52671 1.55444 0.929587 1.44087 1.58432 1.75946 1.78158

1-2-1 Li et al. [12] s0 0.85286 1.22580 1.32129 1.42665 1.44101 0.92897 1.41662 1.55788 1.72670 1.74811
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.85290 1.22883 1.33301 1.48096 1.50841 0.92897 1.41788 1.56301 1.75143 1.77878
Present Study ¼0 0.849345 1.22345 1.32494 1.46645 1.49283 0.927781 1.41572 1.55964 1.74523 1.77217
Present Study s0 0.853778 1.22867 1.33072 1.47351 1.50022 0.929587 1.41813 1.56236 1.74856 1.77565

1-8-1 Li et al. [12] s0 0.85286 1.07016 1.14451 1.25210 1.27065 0.92897 1.20553 1.30825 1.46647 1.49481
Bessaim et al. [32] s0 0.85290 1.07153 1.14652 1.25485 1.27360 0.92897 1.20590 1.30885 1.46742 1.49588
Present Study ¼0 0.849345 1.06915 1.14422 1.25166 1.26993 0.927781 1.20500 1.30794 1.46607 1.49432
Present Study s0 0.853778 1.0735 1.14868 1.25646 1.27483 0.929587 1.20700 1.31001 1.46834 1.49664

natural frequency doesn't change significantly. For softcore sand- tabulated and plotted in Table 8 and Fig. 11. In Fig. 11, the non-
wich plates natural frequency increases with increasing value of dimensional natural frequencies of Al/Al2O3 FG square plates with
power law index, and the greater values of power law index than 5 Type-A are plotted for different values of Winkler and shear stiff-
have no significant effect on the natural frequency. ness of foundation. It is seen from the figures that, the natural
Finally, the effects of elastic foundation on fundamental fre- frequencies are increasing with the increasing values of Winkler
quencies of FG sandwich plates are studied and results are and shear coefficient. Noted that, for the greater than “5000” of

Fig. 9. Variation of natural frequencies for 1-2-1 FG sandwich plates with Type A. Fig. 10. Variation of natural frequencies for 2-1-2 FG sandwich plates with Type A.
148 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152

Table 8 values of Winkler coefficient, the shear coefficient has insignificant

Effects of pelastic
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi foundation on non-dimensional fundamental frequencies effect on natural frequency. The same concept is valid for the
u ¼ ua2 =h r0 =E0 of simply supported square Al/(ZrO2)1 FGM sandwich plates
(Type A, m ¼ n ¼ 1).
greater than “250” of values of shear coefficient. Table 8 is tabulated
the non-dimensional natural frequencies of simply supported
a/h k Kw Ks 2-1-2 1-1-1 2-2-1 1-2-1 1-0-1 square Al/(ZrO2)1 FG sandwich plates for different aspect ratios and
5 0 0 0 1.19115 1.19115 1.19115 1.19115 1.19115 foundation stiffness. It is clear from the table that, the natural fre-
10 10 1.51351 1.51351 1.51351 1.51351 1.51351 quencies are increasing with the existence of elastic foundation.
100 100 3.0908 3.09084 3.09084 3.09084 3.09084
Table 8 also shows that, as the volume ratio of ceramic in sandwich
2 0 0 0.931786 0.95413 0.97549 0.99274 0.90884
10 10 1.33409 1.34691 1.36107 1.37133 1.32314 plate increases natural frequencies of plate increase.
100 100 2.68234 2.75786 2.79373 2.84764 2.56208
10 0 0 0.879142 0.89688 0.92151 0.93562 0.86327
10 10 1.30448 1.31193 1.32742 1.33389 1.30224 4.3. Buckling analysis
100 100 2.50435 2.61784 2.67072 2.74945 2.31764

10 0 0 0 1.29692 1.29692 1.29692 1.29692 1.29692 The effectiveness of the present theory for buckling loads of FG
10 10 1.61603 1.61603 1.61603 1.61603 1.61603 sandwich plates on elastic foundation are investigated in this
100 100 3.31161 3.31161 3.31161 3.31161 3.31161
2 0 0 0.993892 1.01785 1.04293 1.0615 0.97214
section.
10 10 1.40287 1.41684 1.43347 1.44479 1.39245 In order to verify the accuracy of the present theory for buckling
100 100 3.28172 3.27584 3.27742 3.37358 3.29568 analysis, the biaxial buckling loads of a square Al/Al2O3 FG sandwich
10 0 0 0.937422 0.95372 0.98239 0.995722 0.93086 plate are compared directly with the corresponding results of 2D and
10 10 1.37067 1.37733 1.39522 1.40137 1.37339
quasi-3D theories of Neves et al. [28] and 2D theories of Zenkour [11]
100 100 3.29462 3.2805 3.28023 3.27038 3.32236
and El Meiche et al. [15] in Table 9. The both of the quasi-3D shear
100 0 0 0 1.34038 1.34038 1.34038 1.34038 1.34038 deformation theories are well in agreement with each other. How-
10 10 1.65899 1.65899 1.65899 1.65899 1.65899
ever, the results of 2D shear deformation theories are found to be
100 100 3.36942 3.36942 3.36942 3.36942 3.36942
2 0 0 1.0182 1.04279 1.06946 1.08854 0.99710 overestimated in comparison with those obtained by quasi-3D
10 10 1.43 1.44444 1.46227 1.47402 1.42000 theories of Neves et al. [28] and present study. The reason for this
100 100 3.33441 3.32829 3.32997 3.32610 3.34906 feature may be due to ignoring the effect of thickness stretching.
10 0 0 0.960238 0.97582 1.0062 1.01911 0.95802
To examine the influence of foundation stiffness on the buckling
10 10 1.3967 1.40285 1.42192 1.42781 1.40234
100 100 3.34801 3.33315 3.33266 3.3225 3.37718
behavior of FG sandwich plates, the variation of the biaxial buckling
loads of Al/(ZrO2)1 FG sandwich plates are displayed in Fig. 12 versus
the elastic foundation stiffness. The main conclusion of Fig. 12 is that
increasing the foundation stiffness coefficients increases the

Fig. 11. Variation of natural frequencies with foundation stiffness of (2-1-2) FG sandwich plates with Type A (k ¼ 1 and a/h ¼ 10).

Table 9
Non-dimensional biaxial buckling loads l ¼ Nx a2 =100h3 for simply supported square Al/Al2O3 FGM sandwich plates (Type A, a/h ¼ 10, m ¼ n ¼ 1).

Theory εz k

0 0.5 1 5 10

2-1-2 Zenkour [11] ¼0 6.50303 3.97097 2.92060 1.52203 1.37422

El Meiche et al. [15] ¼0 6.50276 3.97023 2.91970 1.52071 1.37249
Neves et al. [28] ¼0 6.50254 3.87163 2.86511 1.50933 1.36540
Neves et al. [28] s0 6.47643 3.85813 2.85568 1.50395 1.36023
Present Study ¼0 6.50273 3.97074 2.92038 1.52176 1.37370
Present Study s0 6.43316 3.92813 2.88912 1.50524 1.35844

1-1-1 Zenkour [11] ¼0 6.50303 4.21856 3.23270 1.79032 1.59728

El Meiche et al. [15] ¼0 6.50276 4.21823 3.23225 1.78937 1.59687
Neves et al. [28] ¼0 6.50254 4.11067 3.16778 1.77074 1.58419
Neves et al. [28] s0 6.47643 4.09639 3.15750 1.76502 1.57880
Present Study ¼0 6.50273 4.21840 3.23256 1.79013 1.59776
Present Study s0 6.43316 4.17325 3.19810 1.77123 1.58073

1-2-1 Zenkour [11] ¼0 6.50303 4.60835 3.75314 2.36744 2.19087

El Meiche et al. [15] ¼0 6.50276 4.60878 3.75359 2.36731 2.13982
Neves et al. [28] ¼0 6.50254 4.48655 3.67183 2.33029 2.10896
Neves et al. [28] s0 6.47643 4.47095 3.65998 2.32351 2.10275
Present Study ¼0 6.50273 4.60832 3.75317 2.36741 2.14009
Present Study s0 6.43316 4.55911 3.71326 2.34271 2.11785
 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152 149

Fig. 12. Variation of bi-axial critical buckling loads of (2-1-2) FG sandwich plates with foundation stiffness (Type A, k ¼ 2 and a/h ¼ 10).

Table 10
Effects of elastic foundation on non-dimensional uniaxial and biaxial buckling loads l ¼ Nx a2 =100h3 of simply supported square Al/(ZrO2)1 FGM sandwich plates (Type A,
m ¼ n ¼ 1).

a/h k Kw Ks Uniaxial Biaxial

2-1-2 1-1-1 2-2-1 1-2-1 2-1-2 1-1-1 2-2-1 1-2-1

5 0 0 0 2.15639 2.15639 2.15639 2.15639 1.07819 1.07819 1.07819 1.07819

10 10 3.48146 3.48146 3.48146 5.48146 1.74073 1.74073 1.74073 1.74073
100 100 14.51923 14.51923 14.51923 14.51923 7.25961 7.25961 7.25961 7.25961
2 0 0 1.24978 1.32235 1.38846 1.44778 0.62489 0.66117 0.69423 0.72389
10 10 2.56216 2.63537 2.70315 2.76276 1.28108 1.31768 1.35157 1.38138
100 100 10.3653 11.05769 11.39667 11.92307 5.18269 5.52884 5.69833 5.96153
10 0 0 1.09052 1.14917 1.22068 1.27007 0.54526 0.57458 0.61034 0.63503
10 10 2.40119 2.45910 2.53306 2.58171 1.20059 1.22955 1.26653 1.29085
100 100 8.85489 9.79895 10.26025 10.97902 4.42744 4.89947 5.13012 5.48951

10 0 0 0 5.11267 5.11267 5.11267 5.11267 2.55633 2.55633 2.55633 2.55633

10 10 7.93819 7.93819 7.93819 7.93819 3.96909 3.96909 3.96909 3.96909
100 100 33.3348 33.33487 33.33487 33.33487 16.66743 16.6674 16.6674 16.6674
2 0 0 2.84545 3.01155 3.17610 3.31252 1.42272 1.50577 1.58805 1.65626
10 10 5.66904 5.83531 6.00022 6.13669 2.83452 2.91765 3.00011 3.06834
100 100 31.0244 31.19574 31.36696 31.50586 15.5122 15.5978 15.68348 15.75293
10 0 0 2.48086 2.60044 2.77643 2.87895 1.24043 1.30022 1.38821 1.43947
10 10 5.30397 5.42354 5.60017 5.70253 2.65198 2.71177 2.80008 2.85126
100 100 30.6456 30.76894 30.95618 31.05916 15.3228 15.38447 15.47809 15.52958

100 0 0 0 54.6104 54.6104 54.6104 54.6104 27.3052 27.3052 27.3052 27.3052

10 10 83.6583 83.6583 83.6583 83.6583 41.8291 41.8291 41.8291 41.8291
100 100 345.09 345.09 345.09 345.09 172.545 172.545 172.545 172.545
2 0 0 29.8715 31.6184 33.4073 34.8447 14.9358 15.8092 16.7036 17.4223
10 10 58.9195 60.6664 62.4553 63.8927 29.4597 30.3332 31.2276 31.9463
100 100 320.351 322.098 323.887 325.325 160.176 161.049 161.944 162.662
10 0 0 26.0363 27.2311 29.1352 30.1677 13.0182 13.6155 14.5676 15.0839
10 10 55.0843 56.279 58.1832 59.2157 27.5421 28.1395 29.0916 29.6079
100 100 316.516 317.711 319.615 320.648 158.258 158.855 159.808 160.324

buckling load of plate. In addition, it can be observed easily from the developed on the assumption that transverse shear displace-
figure that the shear stiffness coefficient provide a greater influence ments vary as a hyperbolic function through the plate thickness.
on the critical buckling load in comparison with the Winkler coef- The present method is based on the three dimensional elasticity
ficient of foundation. The dimensionless uniaxial and biaxial buck- theory and takes into account the effect of not only transverse
ling loads of a square Al/(ZrO2)1 FG sandwich plates on elastic shear strains but also transverse normal strains. The equations of
foundation are presented for various values of power-law exponent motion and associated boundary conditions are obtained by using
k, elastic foundation stiffness k0 and k1 and a/h ratios in Table 10. As Hamilton's principle. For the analytical solution of the FGM plate
expected, the uniaxial buckling load of FG sandwich plate is greater with simply supported boundary conditions, Navier method has
than the biaxial buckling load. It can be observed from the table that, been used. In order to prove the accuracy of the present theory,
buckling loads of the FG sandwich plates with Type A decrease as the the results of present theory have been compared with the
power-law index increases. Hence, buckling loads of homogeneous published results of other shear deformation theories. Also, some
ceramic plates are found as greater than the corresponding values of numerical studies have been performed to investigate the in-
FG sandwich plates. It is evident that the elastic foundation has a fluences of elastic foundation on mechanical behavior of FG
significant effect on the buckling load of sandwich plates and the sandwich plates.
effect of shear stiffness coefficient on the critical buckling loads is The results obtained by the present study can be summarized as
more pronounced than Winkler stiffness coefficient. follows:

 Through all the comparative analyzes, it can be observed that

5. Concluding remarks the present theory shows good agreement with that of the re-
sults of other 2D and quasi-3D shear deformation theories. Also,
In the present study, bending, free vibration and buckling the results predicted by the proposed theory are in an excellent
analysis of FGM sandwich plates on elastic foundation have been
150 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152

agreement with 3D elasticity solutions even for the case of very 8 9

> Mij >T
>
> >
thick plates. <N > =
 The results show that the 2D and quasi-3D shear deformation ij T
Sz ¼ u0;x v0;y 0 w0;xx w0;yy 0 qx;x qy;y 0 0 0 qz
theories have almost identical results for thin plates. It has been > Oij >
> >
>
: >
;
seen from the comparison studies with the exact elasticity so- Pij
lutions that the quasi-3D theories which account for the trans- ði ¼ 1 j ¼ 1;3Þ
verse normal strain effects, can predict the static and free
vibration behavior more accurately compared to other 2D shear (A.2)
theories. So, it is relevant to conclude that the effect of trans-
8 9 8 9 8 9
< Nx = < Mx = < Px =
verse normal strains on mechanical behavior of FGM sandwich fNg ¼ Ny ; fMg ¼ My ; fPg ¼ Py ; fRg
plates are just as important as the effect of transverse shear : ; : ; : ;
Nxy Mxy Pxy
strains and must be taken into account. 
Rx
 The quasi-3D theories, which take thickness stretching effect ¼ ;
Ry
into account, found lower transverse displacement and buckling
loads and higher axial stress and natural frequencies than the 2D (A.3)
plate theories. 8 9 8 9
>
> u0;x >
> >
> w0;xx >
>
 Increasing value of the power-law exponent k increases the < v0;y = < w0;yy =
center displacement and decreases the transverse shear stress in fεg ¼ ; fkg ¼  ; fkq g
>
> 0 >
> >
> 0 > >
all sequences. And insignificant change occurs in the stresses : ; : ;
u0;y þ v0;x 2w0;xy
with the greater values of k than 5. 8 9 8 9
>
> q >
> >
> 0 >
 < > 
While increasing value of power-law index leads to the x;x
<
decreasing value of natural frequency for hardcore sandwich qy;y = 0
=
qx þ qz;x
¼ ; fqg ¼ ; Kq ¼
>
> 0 >
> >
> q > qy þ qz;y
plates, natural frequency increases with increasing value of : : z>
power law index for softcore sandwich plates. The greater qx;y þ qy;x ; 0
;

values of power law index than 5 have no significant effect on (A.4)

the natural frequency.
 For all sequences, increasing value of power-law index k results where the stiffness components and inertias are given as:
the decreasing value of buckling loads. Hence, buckling loads of
homogeneous ceramic plates are found as greater than the Aij ; Bij ; Cij ; Dij ; Eij ; Fij ; Gij ; Hij ; Kij
corresponding values of FG sandwich plates. Zh=2 n o
00 00 00
 The axial normal and transverse shear stresses and plate center ¼ 1; z; f ðzÞ; f ðzÞ; z2 ; z f ðzÞ; z f ðzÞ;½f ðzÞ2 ;f ðzÞ f ðzÞ ½Q1 ij dz
displacement decrease gradually with the increasing value of
h=2
foundation stiffness.
 The natural frequencies are increasing with the existence of i ¼ 1;3 j ¼ 1;4
elastic foundation. The natural frequencies are increasing with (A.5)
the increasing values of Winkler and shear coefficient. Noted
that, for the greater than “5000” of values of Winkler coefficient, Zh=2 n o
00 00 00 00 00
the shear coefficient has insignificant effect on natural fre- Mij ;Nij ;Oij ;Pij ¼ f ðzÞ; z f ðzÞ; f ðzÞ f ðzÞ; f ðzÞf ðzÞ ½Q3 Tij dz
quency. The same concept is valid for the greater than “250” of h=2
values of shear coefficient.
i ¼ 1 j ¼ 1;3
 Increasing the foundation stiffness coefficients increases the
buckling load of plate. (A.6)
 It is evident that the elastic foundation has a significant effect on 8
the mechanical behavior of sandwich plates and the effect of >
> Zh=2
>
< 2
shear stiffness coefficient is more pronounced than Winkler ½f 0 ðzÞ ½Q2 ij dz if i ¼ j
stiffness coefficient. Lij ¼ i; j ¼ 1; 2 (A.7)
>
>
>
:
h=2
0 if isj
2 3
Q11 Q12 Q12 0  
Appendix 6 7 Q55 0
½Q1  ¼ 4 Q12 Q11 Q12 0 5; ½Q2  ¼ ;
0 Q66
0 0 0 Q44
The stress and moment resultants which appeared in Equation 8 9
(12) are given by < 12 >
> Q =
fQ3 g ¼ Q12
8 9 2 3 >
: >
;
< fNg = Aij Bij Cij Dij Q11
fMg ¼ 4 Bij Eij Fij Gij 5 (A.8)
: ;
fPg Cij Fij Hij Kij
8 9
>
> fεg >> I1 ; I2 ; I3 ; I4 ; I5 ; I6 ; I7 ; I8
< =
fkg
 ði ¼ 1; 3 j ¼ 1; 4Þ; fRg Zh=2

>
> fk g >
: q > ; ¼ r ðzÞ 1; z; z2 ; f ðzÞ; z f ðzÞ; ½f ðzÞ2 ; f 0 ðzÞ; ½f 0 ðzÞ2 dz
fqg
 h=2
¼ Lij fkq g ði; j ¼ 1; 2Þ (A.1)
(A.9)
 S.S. Akavci / Composites Part B 96 (2016) 136e152 151

The elements of the [K], [M] and [N] matrices in Equation (17)
are given as:

2
a11 ¼ A11 a2  A34 b
a12 ¼ a bðA12 þ A34 Þ
a13
2
¼ B11 a3 þ B12 a b þ 2B34 a b
2 a34 ¼ F11 a3 þ F21 a b2 þ 2F34 a b2
a14 ¼ C11 a2  C34 b
2 a35 ¼ F12 a2 b þ 2F34 a2 b þ F22 b3
2
a15 ¼ a b ðC12 þ C34 Þ a36 ¼ G13 a2  G23 b
2 2
a16 ¼ D13 a a44 ¼ L11  H11 a  H34 b
¼ a b ðH12 þ H34 Þ (A.10)
a22 ¼ A34 a2  A22 b2 a45
a23 ¼ B21 a2 b þ 2B34 a2 b þ B22 b3 a46 ¼ K13 a  L11 a
a24 ¼ a bðC21 þ C34 Þ a55 ¼ L22  H34 a2  H22 b2
a25 ¼ C34 a2  C22 b2 a56 ¼ K23 b  L22 b
a26 ¼ D23 b a66 ¼ P13  L11 a2  L22 b2


a33 ¼ E11 a4  E12 a2 b2  E21 a2 b2  4 E34 a2 b2  E22 b4  k0  k1 a2 þ b2

[6] Barretta R, Luciano R, Willis JR. On torsion of random composite beams.

 Compos Struct 2015;132:915e22.
2
m33 ¼ I1 þ I3 a2 þ b [7] Barretta R, Feo L, Luciano R, Marotti de Sciarra F. A gradient Eringen model for
m11 ¼ I1 functionally graded nanorods. Compos Struct 2015;131:1124e31.
m13 ¼ a I2 m34 ¼ I5 a [8] Barretta R, Luciano R. Analogies between Kirchhoff plates and functionally
m14 ¼ I4 m35 ¼ I5 b graded Saint-Venant beams under torsion. Contin Mech Thermodyn 2015;27:
m36 ¼ I7 (A.11) 499e505.
m22 ¼I1 [9] Fantuzzi N, Tornabene F, Viola E. Four-parameter functionally graded cracked
m23 ¼ b I2 m44 ¼ I6 plates of arbitrary shape: a GDQFEM solution for free vibrations. Mech Adv
m25 ¼ I4 m55 ¼ I6 Mat Struct 2016;23(1):89e107.
m66 ¼ I8 [10] Zenkour AM. A comprehensive analysis of functionally graded sandwich
plates: part 1dDeflection and stresses. Int J Solids Struct 2005;42:5224e42.
[11] Zenkour AM. A comprehensive analysis of functionally graded sandwich
2 plates: part 2dBuckling and free vibration. Int J Solids Struct
n11 ¼ n22 ¼ h a2 N x þ h b N y
2005;42(18e19):5243e58.
    [12] Li Q, Iu VP, Kou KP. Three-dimensional vibration analysis of functionally
h3 h3 h3 h3
n33 ¼ N x h a2 þ a4 þ a2 b2 þ N y h b2 þ a2 b2 þ b4 graded material sandwich plates. J Sound Vib 2008;311:498e515.
12 12 12 12 [13] Brischetto S. Classical and mixed advanced models for sandwich plates
embedding functionally graded cores. J Mech Mat Struct 2009;4(1):13e33.
2
n34 ¼ C1 a3 Nx  C1 a b Ny [14] Zenkour AM, Alghamdi NA. Bending analysis of functionally graded sandwich
plates under the effect of mechanical and thermal loads. Mech Adv Mat Struct
3
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