Effect of porosity and skew edges on transient response of functionally graded sandwich plates

This work for the first time presents the effect of porosity and skew edges on the transient response of functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich plates using a layerwise finite element formulation. Two configurations of FGM sandwich plates are considered. In the first configuration, the top and the bottom layers are made of the FGM and the core is made of pure metal, whereas in the second configuration, the bottom, core and the top layers are made of pure metal, FGM and pure ceramic, respectively. Four micromechanics models based on the rule of mixture are used to model porosity for these two configurations of FGM sandwich plates. A layerwise theory based on a first-order shear deformation theory for each layer that maintains the displacement continuity at the layer interface is used for the present investigation. An eight-noded isoparametric element with nine degrees of freedom per node is used to develop the finite element model (FEM). The governing equations for the present investigation are derived using Hamilton’s principle. A wide range of comparison studies are presented to establish the accuracy of the present FEM formulation. It has been shown here that the parameters like skew angle, porosity coefficient, volume fraction index, core to facesheet thickness ratio and boundary conditions have a significant effect on the transient response of FGM sandwich plates. Also, the present finite element formulation is simple and accurate.