Nonlinear dynamic response of a functionally graded plate with a through-width surface crack

A nonlinear vibration analysis of a simply supported functionally graded rectangular plate with a through-width surface crack is presented in this paper. The plate is subjected to a transverse excitation force. Material properties are graded in the thickness direction according to exponential distributions. The cracked plate is treated as an assembly of two sub-plates connected by a rotational spring at the cracked section whose stiffness is calculated through stress intensity factor. Based on Reddy’s third-order shear deformation plate theory, the nonlinear governing equations of motion for the FGM plate are derived by using the Hamilton’s principle. The deflection of each sub-plate is assumed to be a combination of the first two mode shape functions with unknown constants to be determined from boundary and compatibility conditions. The Galerkin’s method is then utilized to convert the governing equations to a two-degree-of-freedom nonlinear system including quadratic and cubic nonlinear terms under the external excitation, which is numerically solved to obtain the nonlinear responses of cracked FGM rectangular plates. The influences of material property gradient, crack depth, crack location and plate thickness ratio on the vibration frequencies and transient response of the surface-racked FGM plate are discussed in detail through a parametric study.