Exact 3-D Solution for Free Bending Vibration of Thick FG Plates and Homogeneous Plate Coated by a Single FG Layer on Elastic Foundations

This paper presents new exact 3-D (three-dimensional) elasticity closed-form solutions for out-of-plane free vibration of thick rectangular single layered FG (functionally graded) plates and thick rectangular homogeneous plate coated by a functionally graded layer with simply supported boundary conditions. It is assumed that the plate is on a Winkler-Pasternak elastic foundation and elasticity modulus and mass density of the FG layer vary exponentially through the thickness of the FG layer, whereas Poisson’s ratio is constant. In order to solve the equations of motion, a proposed displacement field is used for each layer. Influences of stiffness of the foundation, inhomogeneity of the FG layer and coating thickness-to-total thickness ratio on the natural frequencies of the plates are discussed. Numerical results presented in this paper can serve as benchmarks for future vibration analyses of single layered FG plates and coated plates on elastic foundations.