In-plane free vibrations of functionally graded sandwich arches using shear and quasi-3D deformation theories

The in-plane vibration problem of functionally graded (FG) sandwich circular arch made up of two layers of power law FGM face sheet and one layer of homogeneous core is investigated. A framework for the vibration analysis of FG sandwich circular arches is presented, and the quasi-3D theories for the arch structures compatible with this framework are established for the first time. The quasi-3D theories take into account the changes of displacement through the thickness of the arch, and satisfy the stress-free boundary conditions naturally. The Lagrange equation is employed to derive the equation of motion, and various boundary conditions are implemented by applying simple algebraic polynomials as admissible functions to discrete the displacement fields of the FG sandwich arches. The comparison study of various high-order shear deformation theories and quasi-3D deformation theories for the FG sandwich circular arches is carried out via different numerical examples. The influences of material distributions and geometric parameters on the vibration characteristics of the FG sandwich circular arches are also presented and discussed for the first time.