A sinusoidal beam theory for functionally graded sandwich curved beams

To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no research work available on FG sandwich curved beams in the whole variety of literature. Therefore, the analysis presented on static behaviour of FG sandwich curved beams in this study is the main contribution and the novelty of the present study. A sinusoidal beam theory considering the effects of transverse normal stress/strain is applied for the bending analysis of FG sandwich beams curved in elevation. The beam has functionally graded skins at top and bottom and isotropic core at the middle. Material properties of FG skins are varied through the thickness according to the power law distribution. The present theory accounts for sinusoidal variation of axial strain and cosine distribution of transverse shear strain through the thickness of the beam. Governing equations of equilibrium are derived using Hamilton's principle. Analytical solutions for simply supported curved beam are obtained using Navier's solution procedure. The non-dimensional numerical results are obtained for different radii of curvature and various power law coefficients. The present study contributes many new results on the bending analysis of functionally graded sandwich beams curved in elevation for the reference of future research in this area.