Nonlinear free and forced vibration behavior of functionally graded plate with piezoelectric layers in thermal environment

In the present study, finite element formulation based on higher order shear deformation plate theory is developed to analyze nonlinear natural frequencies, time and frequency responses of functionally graded plate with surface-bonded piezoelectric layers under thermal, electrical and mechanical loads. The von Karman nonlinear strain–displacement relationship is used to account for the large deflection of the plate. The material properties of functionally graded material (FGM) are assumed temperature-dependent. The temperature field has uniform distribution over the plate surface and varies in the thickness direction. The considered electric field only has non-zero-valued component Ez. Numerical results are presented to study effects of FGM volume fraction exponent, applied voltage in piezoelectric layers, thermal load and vibration amplitude on nonlinear natural frequencies and time response of FGM plate with integrated piezoelectric layers. In addition, nonlinear frequency response diagrams of the plate are presented and effects of different parameters such as FGM volume fraction exponent, temperature gradient, and piezoelectric voltage are investigated.