Analytical stress analysis of annular FGM sandwich plates with non-uniform shear and normal tractions, employing a zigzag-elasticity plate theory

Present paper is devoted to stress and deformation analysis of functionally graded annular sandwich plates subjected to non-uniform normal and/or shear tractions. In spite of its wide applications, analytical stress analysis of plates under shear or combinations of normal and shear tractions has not been performed so far, especially for the sandwich plates. Furthermore, it is the first time that a power solution is developed for the annular functionally graded sandwich plates. The governing equations are derived based on principle of minimum potential energy and a double superposition zigzag theory. The transverse shear stresses are determined based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The resulting governing equations may cover symmetric and asymmetric layups, various boundary conditions, and arbitrary non-uniform tractions on the top and bottom face sheets. The obtained results are verified by comparing them with results of the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. While the present approach is accurate, it is computationally more economic than the three-dimensional elasticity approach. Finally, a parametric study including evaluating effects of various parameters on the stress and displacement distributions of the annular sandwich FGM plates is accomplished.