A spectrally formulated finite element for wave propagation analysis in functionally graded beams

In this paper, spectral finite element method is employed to analyse the wave propagation behavior in a functionally graded (FG) beam subjected to high frequency impulse loading, which can be either thermal or mechanical. A new spectrally formulated element that has three degrees of freedom per node (based upon the first order shear deformation theory) is developed, which has an exact dynamic stiffness matrix, obtained by exactly solving the homogeneous part of the governing equations in the frequency domain. The element takes into account the variation of thermal and mechanical properties along its depth, which can be modeled either by explicit distribution law like the power law and the exponential law or by rule of mixture as used in composite. Ability of the element, in capturing the essential wave propagation behavior other than predicting the propagating shear mode (which appears only at high frequency and is present only in higher order beam theories), is demonstrated. Propagation of stress wave and smoothing of depthwise stress distribution with time is presented. Dependence of cut-off frequency and maximum stress gradient on material properties and FG material (FGM) content is studied. The results are compared with the 2D plane stress FE and ID Beam FE formulation. The versatility of the method is further demonstrated through the response of FG beam due to short duration highly transient temperature loading. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.