Thermo-Mechanical Analysis of Functionally Graded Material Plate

This paper investigates the linear thermo-mechanical behavior of simply-supported FGM plate under the framework of generalized plate theory (GPT), which includes classical plate theory (CPT), first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT) as special cases. The theoretical formulation based on principle of minimum potential energy, and Navier’s method is applied to compute displacements and stresses for FGM plate under transverse mechanical load and nonlinear temperature distribution across the thickness of the plate. Consequently, a comparative analysis of transverse deflections and stresses predicted by different plate theories is also presented to judge the validity of each theory in context of FGM. Moreover, the effect of inhomogenity on thermal and mechanical response of FGM is also studied by considering a range of power law index for material properties gradation and it is identified that minimum value of stresses are obtained for linear FGM (i.e., unity power law index). In addition to this, the study found that the thermal response of FGM plate predicted by all theories is almost same however reasonable differences are detected in the transverse displacement under mechanical loading conditions.