Vibration of two-directional functionally graded sandwich Timoshenkho beams traversed by a harmonic load

Abstract

Vibration of two-directional functionally graded sandwich (2D-FGSW) Timoshenko beams traversed by a harmonic load is investigated. The beams consist of three layers, a homogeneous core and two functionally graded skin layers with the material properties continuously varying in both the thickness and length directions by power functions. The conventional functionally graded sandwich beams are obtained from the present 2D-FGSW beams as a special case. A finite element formulation is derived and employed to compute the vibration characteristics of the beams. The obtained numerical result reveals that the material distribution and the layer thickness ratio play an important role on the natural frequencies and dynamic magnification factor. A parametric study is carried out to highlight the effects of the power-law indexes, the moving load speed and excitation frequency on the vibration characteristics of the beams. The influence of the aspect ratio on the vibration of the beams is also examined and discussed.