Bending analysis of functionally graded skew sandwich plates with through-the thickness displacement variations.

This paper analyzes the bending response of functionally graded skew sandwich plates with graded layer as face sheet/core using higher order shear deformation theory in the frame work of finite element method considering through-the-thickness variation of displacements. The assumed kinematics field incorporates the quadratic variation of thickness co-ordinate in defining the transverse displacement. The C0 finite element formulation has been done efficiently to overcome the problem of C1 continuity associated with the higher order shear deformation theory. For this, a rectangular isoparametic Lagrangian element with nine nodes and 13 nodal unknowns at each node is developed. Two types of plates are modeled: functionally graded skew plates with graded face sheets and graded layer as core part. By considering the symmetry of the plate, different combinations of bottom-core-top thickness has been considered for the numerical study. Wide variety of numerical problems are presented for functionally graded sandwich plates with various skew angles, thickness schemes, aspect ratio, thickness ratio and boundary conditions. It is noticed that isotropic plates exhibit diverge response in comparison with graded plates. Also, power law exponent and skew angle are vital parameters that dictate the response of the plate under bending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]