Static Bending Behavior of Functionally Graded Plates Subjected to Mechanical Loading

This paper presents analytical formulations and solutions for the bending behavior of simply supported functionally graded plates (FGPs) using Higher Order Shear Deformation Theory (HSDT) without enforcing zero transverse shear stresses on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate. It does not require shear correction factors. Material properties of the plate are assumed to vary in the thickness direction according to a power law distribution interns of the volume fractions of the constituents. The governing equations of motion and boundary conditions are derived using the principle of virtual work. Solutions are obtained for FGPs in closed-form using Navier’s technique. The results of deflections and stresses are presented for simply supported boundary conditions. The present numerical results are compared with the available solutions in the literature for deflections and stresses, from which it can be concluded that the proposed theory results are very close agreement to the published ones. After validating the present theory results for FGM plates, the effect of side-to-thickness ratio, aspect ratio, modulus ratio, the volume fraction exponent,and through-the-thickness on the deflections and stresses are studied. The shear deformation effect and inhomogeneities played a greater role in estimating the deflctions and stress distribution in the functionally graded material plates.