Plastic Analysis Of Dimensionless Deflections And Stresses In Functionally Graded Sandwich Plates Subjected To Compression Loading

Plastic characteristics of sandwich plates are investigated using the application of a four-field refined theory of sandwich plates. The distinctiveness of this approach lies in the lower number of unknown functions compared to those required in other shear deformation theories. Specifically, this approach employs four unknown functions instead of five used in traditional shear deformation approaches. The theory is variationally consistent, without a shear correction coefficient, and guarantees that transverse shear stresses have a parabolic distribution along the thickness; thus, the shear stress free condition is satisfied.

Faces of the sandwich plate are considered to be isotropic and made of two materials varying in volume fraction along the thickness. Material properties, such as elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and coefficients of thermal expansion, of the faces are represented through power law distribution in terms of the volume fraction of each material composing the faces.

Validity of the presented theory is confirmed by comparing it with classical plate theory, first order shear deformation theory, and other higher-order theories. Numerical analyses have been carried out to validate the results of deflection and stress field. Transverse shear deformations, plate aspect ratio, side-to-thickness ratio, and volumetric fraction distribution of the constituents are important parameters that influence the response of the structure. Parametric studies are performed for the purpose of investigating the effect of aforementioned parameters on the response of sandwich plates.

The findings confirm that the developed four-field theory makes precise predictions regarding plastic deformation and stresses with the advantage of being simple to implement. The current methodology presents an ideal combination of accuracy and efficiency which makes it suitable for analyzing sandwich structures under compressive loading conditions. Therefore, the present research is able to successfully prove the effectiveness and simplicity of the suggested theory.