Free Vibrations and Impact Resistance of a Functionally Graded Honeycomb Sandwich Plate

The functionally graded honeycomb has the characteristic of light weight, low density, high impact resistance, noise reduction, and energy absorption as a kind of new composite inhomogeneous materials. It has the advantages of both functionally graded materials and honeycombs. In this paper, a functionally graded honeycomb sandwich plate with functionally graded distributed along the thickness of the plate is constructed. The equivalent elastic parameters of the functionally graded honeycomb core are given. Based on Reddy’s higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) and Hamilton’s principle, the governing partial differential equation of motion is derived under four simply supported boundary conditions. The natural frequencies of the graded honeycomb sandwich plate are obtained by both the Navier method from the governing equation and the finite element model. The results obtained by the two methods are consistent. Based on this, the effects of parameters and graded on the natural frequencies of the functionally graded honeycomb sandwich plate are studied. Finally, the dynamic responses of the functionally graded honeycomb sandwich plate under low-speed impacts are studied. The results obtained in this paper will provide a theoretical basis for further study of the complex dynamics of functionally graded honeycomb structures.