Free vibration analysis of pre-stressed FGM Timoshenko beams under large transverse deflection by a variational method

A theoretical study on free vibration behavior of pre-stressed functionally graded material (FGM) beam is carried out. Power law variation of volume fraction along the thickness direction is considered. Geometric non-linearity is incorporated through von Kármán non-linear strain–displacement relationship. The governing equation for the static problem is obtained using minimum potential energy principle. The dynamic problem for the pre-stressed beam is formulated as an eigenvalue problem using Hamilton's principle. Three classical boundary conditions with immovable ends are considered for the present work, namely clamped–clamped, simply supported–simply supported and clamped–simply supported. Four different FGM beams, namely Stainless Steel–Silicon Nitride, Stainless Steel–Zirconia, Stainless Steel–Alumina and Titanium alloy–Zirconia, are considered for generation of results. Numerical results for non-dimensional frequency parameters of undeformed beam are presented. The results are presented in non-dimensional pressure-displacement plane for the static problem and in non-dimensional frequency-displacement plane for the dynamic problem. Comparative frequency-displacement plots are presented for different FGMs and also for different volume fraction indices.