Nonlinear Bending Behavior of Functionally Graded Plates Combined with Active Fiber Composites under Thermal Environment

The present paper describes the study of nonlinear bending characteristics of smart Functionally Graded (FG) plates combined with piezoelectric composites. Material properties for the base FG plate are considered to vary along the thickness direction following the power-law principle. In this analysis, commercially available active fiber composite (AFC) material is utilized as the piezoelectric composite. A finite element (FE) model is made for the FG plate combined with AFC material. Simulation models for the smart FG plates are also developed using ANSYS software taking into account the effect of temperature on the material properties. Nonlinear deformations for the smart FG plate for various values of power index and different boundary conditions are presented for thermo-mechanical loading conditions considering the properties to be temperature as well as position dependent. Efforts are made to examine the performance of AFC patches towards control of nonlinear deflections. Various configurations for the smart FG plates are considered and the best location for placing the AFC patches is identified based on the efficiency of AFC material for controlling nonlinear deformations of the FG plates.