Higher order free vibration of sandwich curved beams with a functionally graded core

Abstract

In this paper, free vibration of a sandwich curved beam with a functionally graded (FG) core was investigated. Closed-form formulations of two-dimensional (2D) refined higher order beam theory (RHOBT) without neglecting the amount of z/R was derived and used. The present RHOBT analysis incorporated a trapezoidal shape factor that arose due to the fact that stresses through the beam thickness were integrated over a curved surface. The solutions presented herein were compared with the available numerical and analytical solutions in the related literature and excellent agreement was obtained. Effects of some dimensionless parameters on the structural response were investigated to show their effects on fundamental natural frequency of the curved beam. In all the cases, variations of the material constant number were calculated and presented. Effect of changing ratio of core to beam thickness on the fundamental natural frequency depended on the amount of the material constant number.