Ain Shams Engineering Journal (2011) 2, 5362

Ain Shams University

Ain Shams Engineering Journal

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MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

A rst-order shear deformation nite element model

for elastostatic analysis of laminated composite plates
and the equivalent functionally graded plates
S.S. Alieldin, A.E. Alshorbagy, M. Shaat

Mechanical Design and Production Department, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44511, Egypt
Received 1 January 2011; revised 18 April 2011; accepted 5 May 2011
Available online 6 August 2011

KEYWORDS
Functional graded plates;
Laminated composite plates;
First order shear deformation model;
Elastostatic nite element
analysis

Abstract In the present paper, the rst-order shear deformation plate (FSDT) model is exploited
to investigate the mechanical behavior of laminated composite and functional graded plates. Three
approaches are developed to transform the laminated composite plate, with stepped material properties, to an equivalent functionally graded (FG) plate with a continuous property function across
the plate thickness. Such transformations are used to determine the details of a functional graded
plate equivalent to the original laminated one. In addition it may provide an easy and efcient way
to investigate the behavior of multilayer composite plates, with direct and less computational
efforts. A comparative study has been developed to compare the effectiveness of the three proposed
transformation procedures.
 2011 Ain Shams University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Composite materials are those formed by combining two or
more materials on a macroscopic scale such that they have bet* Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 012 2232469.
E-mail address: ShaatScience@yahoo.com (M. Shaat).
2090-4479  2011 Ain Shams University. Production and hosting by
Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Peer review under responsibility of Ain Shams University.
doi:10.1016/j.asej.2011.05.003

Production and hosting by Elsevier

ter engineering properties than the conventional materials, for

example, metals. Most man-made composite materials are
made from two materials: a reinforcement material called ber
and a base material, called matrix material [1].
The stiffness and strength of brous composites come from
bers which are stiffer and stronger than the same material in
bulk form. The matrix material keeps the bers together, acts
as a load-transfer medium between bers, and protects bers
from being exposed to the environment. Matrix materials have
their usual bulk-form properties whereas bers have directionally dependent properties.
Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are microscopically
inhomogeneous composite materials, in which the volume
fraction of the two or more materials is varied smoothly and
continuously as a continuous function of the material position
along one or more dimensions of the structure. These materials

54
are mainly constructed to operate in high temperature
environments.
In conventional laminated composite structures, homogeneous elastic lamina are bonded together to obtain enhanced
mechanical and thermal properties. The main inconvenience
of such an assembly is to create stress concentrations along
the interfaces and more specically when high temperatures
are involved. This can lead to delaminations, matrix cracks,
and other damage mechanisms which result from the abrupt
change of the mechanical properties at the interface between
the layers. One way to overcome this problem is to use functionally graded materials within which material properties vary
continuously. The concept of functionally graded material
(FGM) was proposed in 1984 by the material scientists in Japan [2]. The FGM is a composite material whose composition
varies according to the required performance. It can be produced with a continuously graded variation of the volume fractions of the constituents, which leads to a continuity of the
material properties of FGM which is the main difference between such a material and the usual composite one. FGMs
are usually made of a mixture of ceramic and metals.
The ceramic constituent of the material provides a high
temperature resistance due to its low thermal conductivity,
while the ductile metal constituent, on the other hand, prevents
the fracture caused by thermal stress due to high temperature
gradient in a very short period of time.
The composite plates are studied widely in the literature (a
review of the plate theories can be found in Ghugal and Shimpi
[3], and Reddy [1]). Plate models for the functionally graded
materials have been developed analytically and numerically.
Various approaches have been developed to establish the
appropriate analysis of the functionally graded (FG) plates.
An analytical model, based on the classical plate theory
(CPT) of LoveKirchhoff has been developed by Chi and
Chung [4,5] for the FGM plates. They developed the analytical
solution for simply supported FG plates subjected to mechanical loads. In practice, this model is not valid for thick plates
where there is a comparability for shear deformation energy.
Several authors suggested computational models that take into
account the transversal shear effect, by using the rst-order
shear deformation theory (FSDT) [6,7] and higher-order shear
deformation theories [8,1]. Praveen and Reddy [9] examined
the nonlinear static and dynamic responses of functionally
graded ceramicmetal plates using the rst-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and the von Karman strain. Zenkour
[10] presented the analysis of FG sandwich plates for the
deection, stresses, buckling and free vibration in [11,12].
The rst-order shear deformation plate models for the
investigation of the behavior of structures made of functionally graded materials are proposed by Nguyen, et al. [13].
The identication of transverse shear factors is investigated
through these models by energy equivalence. The static
analysis of functionally graded, anisotropic and linear magnetoelectroelastic plates which has been carried out by
semi-analytical nite element method is proposed by Rajesh
et al. [14]. The nite element model is derived based on
constitutive equation of piezomagnetic material accounting
for coupling between elasticity, electric and magnetic effect.
Reddy et al. [15] studied the axisymmetric bending and
stretching of FG solid and annular circular plates using the
FSDT. The solutions for deections, force and moment resultants were presented in terms of the corresponding quantities

S.S. Alieldin et al.

of isotropic plates based on the classical Kirchhoff plate theory. Lanhe [16] used the FSDT and derived equilibrium and
stability equations of a moderately thick rectangular plate
made of FGM under thermal loads. The theoretical formulation for bending analysis of functionally graded (FG) rotating
disks based on rst order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is
proposed by M. Bayat. Wong [17]. The material properties of
the disk are assumed to be graded in the radial direction by a
power law distribution of volume fractions of the constituents.
The models based on the rst-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) are very often used owing to their simplicity in
analysis and programming. It requires, however, a convenient
value of the shear correction factor. In practice, this coefcient
has been assumed to be given by 5/6 as for homogeneous
plates. This value is a priori no longer appropriate for functionally graded material analysis due to the position dependence of elastic properties [13].
In the present paper, the rst-order shear deformation plate
(FSDT) model is exploited to investigate the mechanical
behavior of laminated composite and functional graded plates.
Three approaches are developed to transform the laminated
composite plate with stepped material properties to an equivalent FG plate with a continuous property function across
the plate thickness. Such transformations are used to determine the details of an FG plate equivalent to the original laminated one.
In addition, the transformation procedure may provide an
easy and efcient way to investigate the behavior of multilayer
composite plates, with direct integration and less computational efforts.
2. Formulation of FSDT nite element model
In this section the rst-order shear deformation plate models
for modeling structures made of functionally graded materials
are proposed. As mentioned previously, the models based on
the rst-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) are very often
used owing to their simplicity in analysis and programming.
The straight lines perpendicular to the mid-surface of the plate
(transverse normals) before deformation remain straight after
deformation but the transverse normals do not experience
elongation (they are inextensible), and the transverse normals
rotate such that they do not remain perpendicular to the mid
surface after deformation. Based on the rst assumption, the
transverse shear strains and consequently the shear stresses
are constant throughout the laminate thickness. In practice,
a convenient shear correction factor, equals to 56, is assumed
for homogeneous plates (Fig. 1).
2.1. Mathematical model
As mentioned previously it is assumed that the transverse normals rotate such that they do not remain perpendicular to the
mid surface after deformation, so the displacement elds are
ux; y; z; t u0 x; y; t z;x x; y; t
mx; y; z; t m0 x; y; t z;y x; y; t
xx; y; z; t x0 x; y; t

2:1

where u0 ; m0 ; x0 ; ;x ; ;y are unknown functions to be determined, t denotes the time and u0 ; m0 ; x0 denotes the displace ;x and @m
;y
ments of the mid plane (z = 0). Note that @u
@z
@z

A rst-order shear deformation nite element model for elastostatic analysis of laminated composite plates


cxz x; y; z
cyz x; y; z

1 0
0 1

" @x

0 x;y

@x
@x0 x;y
@y

;x x; y

55
#

;y x; y

orfes g Zs fe0s g
fe0b g

2:6
fe0s g

where
is the nodal bending strain and
is the nodal
shear strain. The nodal strain components are determined in
coming sections. Substitute Eq. (2.5) and Eq. (2.6) into Eq.
(2.3), we can obtain:
ZZZ
S:E
fe0b gT zb T Db T zb fe0b g
fe0s gT zs T Ds T zs fe0s gdxdydz

2:7

where the material matrix can be determined from the integration over the material thickness
Z h2
DEEb 
zb T Db T zb dz
2:8
h2

Figure 1 Undeformed and deformed geometries of an edge of a

plate under the assumptions of the FSDT.

which indicate that ;x and ;y are the rotations of a transverse

normal about the y-axis and x-axis, respectively.
The strain energy(S.E), is given by
Z
ZZZ
S:E frgT fegdm
frgT fegdx dy dz
2:2
m

The strain is the variation of the continuum deformation

with respect to its volume, so strain components can be determined from Eq. (2.1) as follows:
@u0
@;x
z
@x
@x
@m0
@;y
z
eyy
@y
@y


@u0 @m0
@;x @;y

cxy
@y
@x
@y
@x
@x0
;x
cxz
@x
@x0
;y
cyz
@y

exx

2:4

So, the strain components can divided into feb g bending strain,
and fes g shear strain components.
3
2
@u0 x;y

orfeb g Zb fe0b g

Bij

h2
h
2

zQij zdz

h2

Dij

h
2

z2 Qij zdz

h2

where frg Dfeg, [D] is the total material properties matrix.

So in Eq. (2.2), we obtain
ZZZ
S:E
fegT DT fegdx dy dz
2:3

8
9 2
1
>
< exx x; y; z >
=
6
eyy x; y; z 4 0
>
>
:
;
cxy x; y; z
0

where [DEEb] is the bending material matrix of the plate, so it

can be written in the form


A B
DEEb 
B D
Z h2
Qij zdz
Aij

0 0 z 0
1 0 0 z
0 1 0 0

@x
7
6
@m0 x;y
7
6
7
6
@y
36
7
0 6 @u0 x;y @m0 x;y 7

7
6
@y
@x
7
7
0 56
7
6
@;x x;y
7
6
@x
z 6
7
@;y x;y
7
6
7
6
@y
5
4
@;y x;y
@;x x;y

@y
@x

2:5

where Aij is the extensional stiffness components, Bij is bending-extensional coupling stiffness components, and Dij is bending stiffness components.
Z h2
zs T Ds T zs dz
2:9
andDEEs 
h2

where [DEEs] is the shear material matrix of the plate, so it can

be written in the form


0 0
DEEs 
0 S
Z h2
Sij
Qij zdz
h2

where for isotropic FG materials

3
2
Q11 z Q12 z Q16 z
7
6
Db  4 Q12 z Q22 z Q26 z 5
Q16 z Q26 z Q66 z


Q44 z Q45 z
Ds 
Q45 z Q55 z

2:10

2:11

Note that Qij z is the equivalent material property components as a function of the material thickness direction z. Where
in FG plate, its material properties vary smoothly and continuously over the thickness of the structure.
2.2. Finite element model
The displacements and normal rotations at any point into a nite element e may be expressed in terms of the n nodes of the
element:

56

S.S. Alieldin et al.

8
9
2 e
u0 x; y >
wi
>
>
>
>
>
> m0 x; y >
>
6 0
>
<
= X
n 6
6
x0 x; y
6 0
>
>
6
>
>
i1 4
>
>
;
x;
y
0
>
>
x
>
>
:
;
;y x; y
0

0
wei
0
0
0

0
0
wei
0
0

0
0
0
wei
0

38 ue 9
0 >
0 >
>
>
>
>
>
e >
>
>
m
0 7
>
=
7< 0 >
7 we
0 7
0
7>
> ;e >
>
>
0 5>
>
> x0 >
>
>
>
e : e ;
;y0
wi

2:12

orfrb g Db feb g

wei

is the Lagrange interpolation function at node i. The

where
Lagrange interpolation function for nine node rectangular elements are given by in terms of the natural coordinates [1].
3
2
8 9
w1 >
1  n1  gn  g  1 1  n2 1  g2
>
>
>
>
>
2
6 1 n1  gn  g  1 1  n 1  g2 7
>w >
>
>
7
6
2>
>
>
>
7
6
>
>
>
>
6 1 n1 gn g  1 1  n2 1  g2 7
w3 >
>
>
>
7
6
>
>
> >
>
2
2 7
>
6
>
< w4 >
= 1 6 1  n1 gn g  1 1  n 1  g 7
7
6
w5 6
7
21  n2 1  g  1  n2 1  g2
>
>
7
46
>
>
2
2
2
>
>
7
6
w
21

n1

g


1

n
1

g

>
>
6>
>
7
6
> >
>
>
7
6
2
2
2
>
>
w7 >
21  n 1 g  1  n 1  g
>
7
6
>
>
>
>
7
6
>w >
>
2
2
2
>
5
4
21

n1

g


1

n
1

g

>
>
8
>
: >
;
2
2
w9
41  n 1  g
2:13
The nodal bending strain can be written as follow
2 e
3
8
9
@wi
@u0 x;y
>
>
0 0
0
0
>
>
@x
@x
>
>
6
78 e 9
>
>
>
>
@ve0 x;y
6 0 @wei 0
>
>
u0 >
>
>
0
0 7
6
7>
>
>
>
>
@y
@y
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
6
7
e >
>
>
>
>
e
e
e x;y >
v
@v
@w
@w
>
>
>
6
7
0
@u
x;y
i
i
0
n 6
<
< 0
=
= X
0
0
0

7
@y
@x
e
@y
@x
6
7
x

0
e
6
7
@w
@;
x;y
x
>
>
> ;e >
>
>
>
0 0  @xi
0 7>
i1 6 0
>
>
@x
> x0 >
>
>
>
6
7>
>
>
>
e 7>
>
>
>
>
6
@w
@;
x;y
y
>
>
>
>
0 0
0
 @yi 7: ;ey ;
6 0
>
>
@y
>
>
0
4
5
>
>
>
@we
@we
: @;x x;y @;y x;y >
;
0
0 0  i  i
@y

@x

n
X
Bb fu0 g
orfe0b g

@y

The normal stress components can be determined as follows

9 2
9
8
38
>
Q11 z Q12 z Q16 z >
=
=
< rxx >
< exx >
6
7
ryy 4 Q12 z Q22 z Q26 z 5 eyy
>
>
>
>
;
;
:
:
cxy
rxy
Q16 z Q26 z Q66 z

@x

2:14

i1

where [Bb] is the curvature-displacement matrix. The nodal

shear strain can be written as
8 e 9
u0 >
>
>
> e >
>
2
3>
>
>
( @x0 x;y
)
e
m >
>
@wi
e
n
< 0 >
=
X

;
x;
y
0
0
w
0
x
i
@x
@x
e
4
5
x

e
0
@x0 x;y
@w
>
;y x; y
0
wei >
0 0 @yi
>
i1
@y
> ;ex >
>
>
> 0>
>
>
: e >
;
;y0
n
X
Bs fu0 g
2:15
orfe0s g

2:19

and the shear stress components are

# 

 "
ryz
cyz
Q44 z Q45 z

rxz
cxz
Q45 z Q55 z
orfrg Ds fes g

2:20

where the material matrix components of isotropic FG plate

are
Ez
; Q12 z tzQ11 z;
1  t2
1  tz
Q66 z
Q11 z
2
1  tz
Q44 z Q55 z K
Q11 z
2
Q16 z Q26 z Q45 z 0:0
Q11 z

Q11 z  Q22 z;

where K is the material shear correction factor, E(z) is the

effective youngs modulus, and tz is the effective Poissons
ratio of the material through the laminate thickness. The convenient shear correction factor has been assumed to be given
by 56 as for homogeneous plates (Fig. 2) [1].
3. Effective mechanical properties
A functionally graded material is a composite material whose
composition and microstructure are locally varied during manufacturing so that certain variations of local material (thermal
and mechanical) properties are achieved. Comparing to traditional composites merits of FGMs include: (1) small thermal
stresses and a designed peak thermal stress location; (2) small
stress concentrations at material interfaces in an FGM; (3)
strong interfacial bonding; (4) reduced free-edge effects; (5) delayed plastic yielding; and (6) increased fracture toughness by
reducing driving force for crack growth along/across material
interfaces [18].
Mechanical properties of an FGP include Youngs modulus
E, shear modulus G, Poissons ratio t, and mass density q, and

i1

Where [Bs] is the shear strain-displacement matrix. So, the element stiffness matrices and load vector may be written as
follows:
Z
Keb  Bb T DEEb Bb dA
2:16
A

Kes 

Bs T DEEs Bs dA

2:17

wei T fqgdA

2:18

ffe g

Z
A

where {q} is the applied force vector.So Eq. (2.14) and (2.15),
into Eq. (2.5) and (2.6) the bending and shear strain vectors
can be obtained by substitution of.

Figure 2 Finite element for shear deformation models of plates

(nine node element).

A rst-order shear deformation nite element model for elastostatic analysis of laminated composite plates
thermal properties include the coefcient of thermal expansion
a, the thermal conductivity k, and the specic heat capacity C.
q and t are usually linear functions of material volume ratios,
but others are nonlinear functions of material volume ratios
because they depend on material microstructures [19]. The
FG plate theory presented here can work with effective material properties estimated by using any method. For state of
simplicity, the effective property P will be estimated using
the simple, Voigt arithmetic method as:
P P1 V1 P2 V2 ;

57

constituents with the volume fraction of the composite material constituents. This approach provides an FG plate of the
same constituents of the composite plate, and of the same volume fraction of constituent materials.
To compare between the three approaches, numerical simulations are performed to this aim, these simulations are discussed in the coming section.
5. Numerical result

V1 V2 1

where P1 and P2 are the properties of the rst and second constituent materials (metal and ceramic), and V1 and V2 are the
volume fractions of the constituent materials. The distributions of volume fractions through the plate thickness are assumed to follow the following simple power law:

n
z zi
V2
zi1  zi
where n can be any non-negative real number and
zi+1 P z P zi. Note that the plate thickness h = zi+1zi,
hence we have the effective material property is given by


z zi
P P1 P2  P1
3:1
zi1  zi
For detailed modeling of effective material properties of
FGMs the reader has to refer to Refs. [1921].
4. Proposed transformation procedures of a laminated composite
plate to an equivalent single-layer FG plate
Many approaches are used to transform a laminated plate,
having stepped material properties across the plate thickness,
to an equivalent FG plate with continuous material property
function across the thickness. A comparative study is developed to check the effectiveness of the different procedure
according to the consistency between the behavior of the original laminated plate and those of the equivalent FG plates.
The rst approach is a curve tting approach which is used
to obtain an equivalent function of the FG material property,
consistent with the distribution of the composite material
property across the plate thickness. This approach provides
an FG plate of constituents having nearly the same properties
of the original laminated plate. The effective material property
of the equivalent FG plate can be obtained by equating the total area under the stepped distribution curve of laminated
composite materials properties and the area of the continuous
curve concerning the material property function of the equivalent FG plate.
The second approach is the effective material property approach. In this approach, the FG material property varies
through the plate thickness with the power law given in Eq.
(3.1), and the value of n is calculated by equating the effective
material property of the FG material with the effective material property of the composite material. This approach provides an FG plate of the same constituents of the composite
plate, and of the same effective material property.
The third approach is the volume fraction approach. In it
the FG material property varies through the plate thickness
with the power law given in Eq. (3.1), and the value of n is calculated by equating the volume fractions of the FG material

In this section we present several numerical simulations, in order to assess the behavior of functionally graded plates subjected to mechanical loads. To this aim we will consider a
simple supported plate. The plate is made by a ceramic material at the top, a metallic at the bottom and law Eq. (3.1), with
n = 0, 0.5, 1, 2 is used for the through-the-thickness variation.
5.1. Verication of the Proposed Model
The analysis of the FGMs plates is performed for a combination of materials of type ceramic-metal. The lower plate surface is assumed to be aluminum while the top surface is
assumed to be zirconia. Material properties vary with the
power law and the values n = 0, 0.5, 1, 2 are considered. Physical material properties are given in Table 1 [22]. A simply supported square plate is considered of side a = 0.2 m and
thickness h = 0.01 m. The plate is subjected to a uniformly distributed mechanical normal load on the top surface (See Fig.
3)
To determine the elastic-static response of FG plates with
material constituents (aluminum and zirconia), several simulations are performed for different values of the grading parameter n. The following non-dimensional parameters are
introduced for use within the numerical simulations to be

Table 1

Material properties.

Property

Aluminum

Zirconia

Youngs modulus
Poissons ratio

EL = 70 GPa
tL = 0.3

EU = 151 GPa
tU = 0.3

Figure 3

Plate geometry, load and material distribution.

58

S.S. Alieldin et al.

presented next (here q denotes the intensity of the applied

mechanical load and Eb is the Youngs modulus at the bottom
face (aluminum)):

0.0015

 x=h
Central deflection x

0.0005

5:1

0.001
Strain xx

a4 q
Load parameter P
Eb h4
Thickness h h=a

n = 0.5
n=1
n=2
ceramic
metal

-0.0005

Several simulations were conducted to assess the behavior

of functionally graded plates to mechanical load. Focusing
 the objective of the analysis is
on the midpoint deection x,
to compare the response of functionally graded plates with
the one of homogeneous single-constituent plates, i.e. those
made of aluminum or zirconia only. Toward this goal, several
numerical studies are conducted with increasing mechanical
 x=h due to a seload. Fig. 4 shows the central deection x
quence of mechanical loads for different values of n. The nondimensional load P takes values in the interval (0,12) and one
may see that all the plates with intermediate material properties experience intermediate values of deection. This was expected since the metallic plate is the one with the lowest
stiffness and the ceramic plate is the one with the highest stiffness. Table 2, shows the numerical results of the simulations.
The results are in excellent agreement with those presented in
[22].
From Fig. 4, the central deection of the FG plate (in the
previous example) decreases by raising the value of the exponent parameter (n), because the material stiffness increases.
The material stiffness increases due to the volume fraction increase of the ceramic by raising the value of (n). Note, this is
sufcient for FG material its top surface has youngs modulus
higher than its bottom surface.

-0.001
-0.0015
-0.5

0.5

z/h

Figure 5

Axial strain distribution through the plate thickness.

Fig. 5 represents the axial strain exx at the center of the

square plate along the thickness direction. The plate is assumed to be subjected to a uniformly distributed load of intensity q = 1 GPa. Based on the formulated model (FSDT), the
strain exx of the FGM plate is linear, which is a result of the
assumption that the strain is proportional to z. It is shown
also, there is no strain at the mid-plane of the FG plate at
(z = 0), while it is well known that the neutral surface moves
forward to the top surface of the FGM plate, as the material
stiffness decreases. The FSDT of plates assumes that the transverse normals to the mid-plane of the plate remain straight and
rotate such that they do not remain perpendicular to the mid
surface after deformation. This reects the lack of the theory.
The variation of the axial stress rxx at the center of the FGM
plate along the thickness direction for different values of the
material parameter n is depicted in Fig. 6. The stress of power
law FGM (P-FGM) plate can be represented as a function of z
of order 3 for material parameter n is assumed to be 2. The
maximum tensile stress at the center of the FGM plate is at
the bottom edge (z = h/2) and increases as the ratio EU/EL increases. However, the maximum compressive stress is at the
top surface (z = h/2) and is high for small EU/EL. For the
ratio EU/EL = 1 in which the FGM plate becomes a homogenous isotropic plate, the stress distribution is a linear function
of z and the maximum stress is at the top or bottom surface of
the plate.

Table 2 Non-dimensional deection of Mid-point versus load

parameter.
Load parameter (P)

2
4
6
8
10
12

 for
(w)

Non diensional axial stress

0.3

Figure 4 Non-dimensional center deection of P-FGM versus

load parameter.

0.2
0.1
0

Ceramic
n = 0.5
n=1
n =2
Metal

-0.1
-0.2
-0.3

Ceramic

n = 0.5

n=1

n=2

Metal

-0.4

0.04
0.08
0.13
0.17
0.21
0.25

0.06
0.13
0.19
0.25
0.32
0.38

0.06
0.11
0.17
0.23
0.29
0.34

0.05
0.11
0.16
0.21
0.27
0.32

0.09
0.18
0.27
0.36
0.45
0.54

-0.5
-0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1

0
z/h

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

Figure 6 Non-dimensional axial stress distribution through the

2
plate thickness (*Non-dimensional axial stress rxx ah2 q *Non
dimensional thickness h z=h).

Non-Dimensional Center
Deflection (w/h)

A rst-order shear deformation nite element model for elastostatic analysis of laminated composite plates
E1/E2 = 1
E1/E2= 2
E1/E2 = 10

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

2
4
6
Aspect ratio a/b

10

Figure 7 Non-dimensional center deection of P-FGM plate

versus the aspect ratio for different E1/E2.

5.2. Effect of the aspect ratio

In order to investigate the effect of the aspect ratio a/b, the
center deection of the P-FGM plate is shown in Fig. 7. It
can be observed that the center deection increases with
increasing the aspect ratio for a/b less than 3. This results show
good agreement with those obtained by (Chi and Chung)
[4,5,23]. The used material and geometrical properties are
E2 = 2.1 106 Kg/cm2, t = 0.3, b = 100 cm, h = 2 cm, and
q = 1.0 Kg/cm2. In the gure, E1/E2 denotes the ratio of the
elastic modulus at the top and bottom faces of the plate.
Fig. 7 shows that more of E1/E2 brings the larger deection,
because larger E1/E2 decreases the stiffness of the FGM plate.
Table 3, shows the numerical results of the simulations.
5.3. Comparison between the multilayer composite and the
single-layer FG analyses
The analysis of multilayer composite plates consuming a computational effort is considered high relative to the analysis of
single-layer FG plates. In multilayer composite plates, the
equivalent material property components are computed for
each layer and summed together to form the overall material
matrix, thus consumes more analysis time and computational
effort. Also, the abrupt change in material property from
one layer to other in multilayer plates leads to some computational problems such as discontinuity at the layers interfaces
that could produce stiffness matrix singularity. Transforming
the multilayer composite plate to a single-layer FG plate is per-

Table 3 Non-dimensional center deection of P-FGM plate

versus the aspect ratio for different E1/E2.
a/b

Non-dimensional deection W/h for P-FGM (P = 2)

E1/E2 = 1

E1/E2 = 2

E1/E2 = 10

1
2
4
6
8
10

0.13295
0.33015
0.41615
0.42645
0.4330
0.4368

0.1662
0.41265
0.52015
0.533
0.54125
0.546

0.2077
0.51575
0.6502
0.66625
0.6765
0.68245

59

formed to make a good use of the material continuous change

through the plate thickness to overcome the lack of the analysis of multilayer composite plates.
To compare between the analysis of multilayer composite
plates and the analysis of single-layer FG plates, some simulations are performed under the same cause and parameters except the material parameter. A multilayer composite and
single-layer FG plates consisting of the same material constituents are used to perform a fair comparison between their
analyses. So, the three approaches discussed previously are
used to transform the multilayer composite plate to a singlelayer FG plate of the same material constituents.
The objective now, is to compute the elastic-static response
of a multilayer composite plate and a single-layer FG plate
transformed by the three approaches, subjected to the same
mechanical loads. To reach this aim a square plate of side
length a = 40 m, thickness h = 2 m and subjected to a uniform distributed load is used. The plate material has four
states. In State 1, the plate is multilayered (ve layers) and
composed of two isotropic materials (Zerconia and Aluminum) see Fig. 8(a). In States 2,3 and 4, the multi-layer composite plate is transformed to a single layer FG plate by using the
numerical curve tting method approach, the effective material
property approach and the volume fraction approach, respectively (see Fig. 8(b),(c),(d)).
Fig. 9 and Table 4 show the non-dimensional central deec w=h due to a sequence of mechanical loads for the
tion w
four states of material. Fig. 10 shows the axial strain distribution along the plate thickness for the different States of material. Fig. 11 and Table 5 show the non-dimensional axial stress
distribution along the plate thickness for the different states of
material.
Figs. 9 and 10 show that the volume fraction approach
experiences the best transformation from multilayer composite
material state to a single-layer FG material state (for the explained simulation). This conclusion could differ for another
simulation example, so the three approaches must be applied
for each simulation problem to provide the best approach that
can be used. Finally, there is no role can be cited to provide the
best approach, because the numerical curve tting method approach depends on the polynomial function, which depends on
the lamination scheme of the composite plate. Also, the effective material property approach depends on the effective material property of the composite material, lamination scheme of
the composite plate and material constituents of the plate.
And, the volume fraction approach depends on the volume
fraction of the plate constituents.
From Fig. 11, the axial stress distribution through the plate
thickness is linear function of z for multilayer composite plate,
while the axial stress distribution through the plate thickness is
a polynomial function of z for the three other FG material
states. The linearity in the multilayer composite analysis reects a big gap between the nite element analysis and reality
(the real response of the plate), but the single-layer FG analysis
provides close results to reality.
In the multilayer composite plates analysis, the equivalent
material property components are computed for each layer
and summed together to form the overall material matrix, this
consuming more analysis time and computational effort. But,
in the single-layer FG plates analysis, the overall material matrix is formed by computing the equivalent material property
components one time. This reects that the single-layer FG

60

S.S. Alieldin et al.

Figure 8 Material youngs modulus distribution along the plate thickness for (a) Multilayer composite plate (State 1). (b) FGM, Curve
tting approach (State 2). (c) FGM, Effective material property approach n = 0.6 (State 3). (d) FGM, Volume fraction approach n = 2.2
(State 4).

analysis provides higher performance than multilayer composite analysis. The single-layer FG analysis reduces the number
of the numerical operations required to form the overall material matrix, this leads to reduction in computational effort and
analysis time. For the previous simulation example the save in
the analysis time is nearly 65.625%, while this value could be
increased for increased number of layers for laminate composite plate.

is introduced. Three approaches are discussed to transform the

multilayer composite plate to an equivalent single-layer FG
plate. A comparative study is developed to check the consistency between the behavior of the original laminated
composite plates and those of the alternatives of the equivalent
single-layer FG plate, determined by the proposed transformation procedures. The numerical results lead to the following
conclusions:

6. Conclusion

1. Three approaches are proposed to determine the property

details of an FG plate equivalent to the original laminated
composite plate. The computational effort of the elastostatic analysis of that FG plate is much less than that required
for the analysis of the original laminated one.

In this study, a rst-order shear deformation plate (FSDT)

model, exploited for the investigation of the mechanical behavior of composite laminated plates and functional graded plates,

A rst-order shear deformation nite element model for elastostatic analysis of laminated composite plates
1.5

0.45
Non-dimensional deflection

0.4
0.35

0.3

Non-dimensional axial stress

State 1
State 2
State3
State4

0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
2

6
8
Load Parameter P

10

State 1
State 2
State3
State4

1
0.5
0
-0.5
-1
-1.5

12

61

-1

-0.75

-0.5

-0.25

0.25

0.5

0.75

Thickness direction z

Figure 9 Non-dimensional deection of midpoint versus load

parameter

Table 4 Non-dimensional deection of center point versus

load parameter.
Load Parameter

2
4
6
8
10
12

 w=h
w
State 1

State 2

State 3

State 4

0.05405
0.1081
0.16215
0.2162
0.27025
0.3243

0.0673
0.1346
0.2019
0.2692
0.3365
0.4038

0.06155
0.12305
0.1846
0.24615
0.30765
0.3692

0.05295
0.10585
0.1588
0.21175
0.26465
0.3176

Figure 11 Non-dimensional axial stress versus thickness direction for P = 2.

Table 5 Non-dimensional axial stress distribution through

the laminate thickness.
z direction

1
0.75
0.5
0.25
00
0.25
0.5
0.75
1

Non-dimensional axial stress

State 1

State 2

State 3

State 4

1.2583
0.9437
0.62917
0.31458
00
0.31458
0.62917
0.9437
1.2583

0.39942
0.138994
0.092766
0.0861517
00
0.06969
0.059835
0.138938
0.39926

0.3655
0.23189
0.14008
0.064164
00
0.0544
0.10026
0.1384
0.16943

0.31476
0.23477
0.153384
0.073813
00
0.063682
0.11255
0.14167
0.1459188

0.0008

0.0004
Axial Strain

3. Prediction of which approach is better to transform the

composite plate to an equivalent FG plate depends on the
effective material property of the laminate, the volume fraction of the laminate material constituents, the lamination
scheme, and the material properties of each layer.

State 1
State 2
State 3
State 4

0.0006

0.0002
0
-0.0002

References

-0.0004
-0.0006
-0.0008
-1

Figure 10

Thickness direction z

Axial strain versus thickness direction for P = 2.

2. The rst approach for equating the behavior of the original

laminated plate to a corresponding FG plate, with continuous property function across the plate thickness, is more
consistent with respect to the behaviors of the original plate
and the equivalent FG one

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Soliman Soliman Soliman Ali-Eldin, associate
Professor of Mechanical Design, Faculty of
Engineering, Zagazig University. Graduated
from Helwan University, Department of
Production Engineering ,(Helwan , Cairo) in
1979 and obtained his M.Sc. degree from
Zagazig University , Department of Mechanical Design and power in 1987. He obtained
his Ph.D. degree from Cairo University ,
Department of Mechanical Design and
Production Engineering . His elds of interest
include Computational solid mechanics,
Design and tribology, Stress analysis of composites, Contact
mechanics of deformable solids and Functional graded material
science.
AMAL ELHOSSINY ALSHORBAGY,
associate Professor of Mechanical Design,
Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University.
Graduated from Zagazig University in 1985
and obtained her M.Sc. degree from the same
university in 1990. She obtained her Ph.D.
degree from Zagazig University. Her elds of
interest include Numerical and Experimental
Analyses of Transient Thermo-Elastic Contact of Non-Conformal Deformable Bodies,
Numerical and Experimental Analyses of
bolted Joints in composite materials.
Mohammed Ibrahim Shaat, demonstrator in
the Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig university. graduated from Zagazig University in
2007. His elds of interest include analytical
and computational models of structures, nite
element analysis of FG and composite
structures.