Thermal stresses and deflections of functionally graded sandwich plates using a new refined hyperbolic shear deformation theory

A new refined hyperbolic shear deformation theory (RHSDT), which involves only four unknown functions as against five in case of other shear deformation theories, is presented for the thermoelastic bending analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates. Unlike any other theory, the number of unknown functions involved is only four, as against five in case of other shear deformation theories. The theory presented is variationally consistent, does not require shear correction factor, and gives rise to transverse shear stress variation such that the transverse shear stresses vary parabolically across the thickness satisfying shear stress free surface conditions. The sandwich plate faces are assumed to have isotropic, two-constituent material distribution through the thickness, and the modulus of elasticity, Poisson's ratio of the faces, and thermal expansion coefficients are assumed to vary according to a power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The core layer is still homogeneous and made of an isotropic ceramic material. Several kinds of sandwich plates are used taking into account the symmetry of the plate and the thickness of each layer. The influences played by the transverse shear deformation, thermal load, plate aspect ratio and volume fraction distribution are studied. Numerical results for deflections and stresses of functionally graded metal-ceramic plates are investigated. It can be concluded that the proposed theory is accurate and simple in solving the thermoelastic bending behavior of functionally graded plates.