State-space Levy solution for size-dependent static, free vibration and buckling behaviours of functionally graded sandwich plates

Abstract

The size-dependent static, free vibration and buckling behaviours of functionally graded (FG) sandwich plates are analysed in this study. Utilising the modified couple stress theory and variational principle, governing equations of motion are developed with a refined shear deformation theory. The rectangular plates embedded on two opposite simply-supported edges with the arbitrary combinations of the other two. Based on the state-space Levy solution, the deflections, stresses, natural frequencies and critical buckling loads are analytically solved for the closed-form formulations. The effects of material distribution and graded schemes, geometric parameters and boundary conditions are also investigated to examine the size-dependent behaviours of FG sandwich microplates.