A new inverse trigonometric shear deformation theory for isotropic and functionally graded sandwich plates

A new inverse trigonometric shear deformation theory is proposed for the static, buckling and free vibration analyses of isotropic and functionally graded (FG) sandwich plates. It accounts for a inverse trigonometric distribution of transverse shear stress and satisfies the traction free boundary conditions. Equations of motion obtained here are solved for three types of FG plates: FG plates, sandwich plates with FG core and sandwich plates with FG faces. Closed-form solutions are obtained to predict the deflections, stresses, critical buckling loads and natural frequencies of simply supported plates. A good agreement between the obtained predictions and the available solutions of existing shear deformation theories is found to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed theory.