Free and forced vibration analyses of unsymmetrical functionally graded porous folded sandwich plates using MITC3 elements

In the present paper, the combination of mixed interpolation of tensorial components technique of triangular elements (MITC3) based upon the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is developed to research the free and forced vibration of the unsymmetrical functionally graded porous (UFGP) folded sandwich plates. The MITC3 element still uses the triangular mesh and avoids the shear-locking phenomena that occur when using the classical triangular elements. Based on the basic formula of the MITC3 element for analyzing plates, the twisted angle (φz) is added to the node displacement vector to solve for folded plates. Material properties of folded sandwich plates are unsymmetric with an FGP core layer, a metal bottom layer, and a ceramic top layer. The motion equations for UFGP folded sandwich plates are derived from Hamilton's principle. Some examples are conducted to verify the accuracy and reliability of the present method. Then, the new numerical results on the free and forced vibrations of UFGP folded sandwich plates are provided. © 2024 THE AUTHORS