Three dimensional free vibration analysis of functionally graded rectangular sandwich plate

This study presents free vibration behavior of two type of simply supported sandwich plates based on the three dimensional theory of elasticity. The core layer of one type is functionally graded (FG) with the isotropic face sheets where as in second type the core layer is isotropic with the face sheets FG material. The effective material properties of FG layers are estimated to vary continuously through the thickness direction according to a power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The differential governing equations are solved by using Fourier series expansion along the in plane directions, state space technique across the thickness direction. Accuracy and exactness of the present approach is validated by comparing the numerical results with the published results. Finally the influences of volume fraction and width-to-thickness ratios on the vibration behavior of plate are investigated.