A new simple three-unknown sinusoidal shear deformation theory for functionally graded plates

In this paper, a new simple higher-order shear deformation theory for bending and free vibration analysis of functionally graded (FG) plates is developed. The significant feature of this formulation is that, in addition to including a sinusoidal variation of transverse shear strains through the thickness of the plate, it deals with only three unknowns as the classical plate theory (CPT), instead of five as in the well-known first shear deformation theory (FSDT) and higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). A shear correction factor is, therefore, not required. Equations of motion are derived from Hamilton's principle. Analytical solutions for the bending and free vibration analysis are obtained for simply supported plates. The accuracy of the present solutions is verified by comparing the obtained results with those predicted by classical theory, first-order shear deformation theory, and higher-order shear deformation theory. Verification studies show that the proposed theory is not only accurate and simple in solving the bending and free vibration behaviours of FG plates, but also comparable with the other higher-order shear deformation theories which contain more number of unknowns.