A quasi-3d third-order shear deformation theory with four unknowns for free vibration analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates

Abstract

This paper presents a so far unavailable quasi-3D third-order shear deformation theory integrated with the Moving Kriging-interpolation meshfree method for the free vibration analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates. The numerical model considers the thickness-stretching effect (s r 0 ) by modelling the displacement field with only four unknowns and third-order shape functions satisfying the stress free boundary conditions at top and bottom surfaces of the plate. The present results are compared with the solutions of the available methods in the literature. It can be concluded that the proposed theory is accurate and efficient in predicting the vibration behaviour of functionally graded plates and having much less number of unknowns.