Vibration and buckling analysis of porous metal foam thin-walled beams with closed section

Abstract

This paper investigates the vibration and buckling analysis of porous metal foam thin-walled box beams. These beams exhibit a unique structural configuration with symmetrical and asymmetrical porosity distributions along their wall thickness, thereby altering the effective mechanical properties. The first-order shear deformable beam theory is employed and the governing equations are derived using the Hamilton’s principle. Numerical results are presented for porous metal foam thin-walled box beams under simply-supported, clamped–clamped and clamped-free boundary conditions. The effects of various porosity parameters, length-to-side and side-to-wall-thickness ratios on the beams’ performance are also examined. A comprehensive comparison between the porous metal foam thin-walled box beams and their counterparts in the form of equivalent homogeneous are presented.