Bending of orthotropic sandwich plates with a functionally graded core subjected to distributed loadings

Based on the Reissner assumptions, this paper is concerned with the bending analysis of simply supported sandwich plates with functionally graded core and orthotropic face sheets subjected to transverse distributed loadings. First, the expressions of the displacements, stresses and internal forces of the sandwich plate are presented according to the constitutive relations and stress states of the core and face sheets. Then, the solutions of bending equilibrium equations are derived by expanding the deflection w, transverse shearing forces Qx and Qy with double trigonometric series that satisfy the simply supported boundary conditions. Finally, the proposed solution is validated by comparing the results with available elasticity solutions for a square sandwich plate with an isotropic core and finite element simulations for one with functionally graded core. The Young's modulus of the functionally graded core is assumed to be graded by a power law distribution of volume fractions of the constituents, and the Poisson's ratio is held constant. And the effects of the core's top-bottom Young's modulus ratio ? and volume fraction exponent n0 on the variation of the displacements of the functionally graded sandwich plate are also examined.