Improved HSDT accounting for effect of thickness stretching in advanced composite plates

Abstract

In this article, a higher shear deformation theory (HSDT) is improved to consider the influence of thickness stretching in functionally graded (FG) plates. The proposed HSDT has fewer numbers of variables and equations of motion than the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT), but considers the transverse shear deformation influences without requiring shear correction coefficients. The kinematic of the present improved HSDT is modified by considering undetermined integral terms in in-plane displacements and a parabolic distribution of the vertical displacement within the thickness, and consequently, the thickness stretching influence is taken into account. Analytical solutions of simply supported FG plates are found, and the computed results are compared with 3D solutions and those generated by other HSDTs. Verification examples demonstrate that the developed theory is not only more accurate than the refined plate theory, but also comparable with the HSDTs which use more number of variables.