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Stability analysis of multifunctional smart sandwich plates with

graphene nanocomposite and porous layers

Rasool Moradi-Dastjerdi , Kamran Behdinan

PII: S0020-7403(19)32025-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2019.105283
Reference: MS 105283

To appear in: International Journal of Mechanical Sciences

Received date: 5 June 2019

Revised date: 13 October 2019
Accepted date: 22 October 2019

Please cite this article as: Rasool Moradi-Dastjerdi , Kamran Behdinan , Stability analysis of multi-
functional smart sandwich plates with graphene nanocomposite and porous layers, International Jour-
nal of Mechanical Sciences (2019), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2019.105283

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Highlights:

 A multifunctional smart sandwich plate with two piezoelectric faces is proposed

 The proposed plate has passive graphene/polymer nanocomposite and porous core
layers
 The critical stability mechanical loads and temperature changes of MFSSP are studied
 a mesh-free method incorporated with Reddy’s TSDT of plates is developed

1
 Stability analysis of multifunctional smart sandwich plates with
graphene nanocomposite and porous layers

* †
Rasool Moradi-Dastjerdi and Kamran Behdinan

Advanced Research Laboratory for Multifunctional Light Weight Structures, Department of Mechanical &
Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

Abstract
The application of piezoelectric layers on the outer surfaces of lightweight passive
sandwich plates can offer multifunctional smart sandwich plates (MFSSPs). This paper
proposes a new MFSSP and studies its critical stability mechanical loads and temperature
changes. The smart plate is proposed to include a multifunctional passive sandwich plate
integrated with two active piezoelectric layers. The lightweight sandwich plate has a
polymeric porous core and two randomly oriented graphene/polymer nanocomposite layers.
Different profiles are considered for graphene and porosity distributions in nanocomposite
and core layers, respectively. A modified Halpin-Tsai’ approach with efficiency parameters is
employed to estimate the material properties of polymer/graphene layers. Reddy’s third order
shear deformation theory (TSDT) of plates is selected to estimate displacement field and
obtain the governing stability equations of the proposed MFSSP. Then, a mesh-free method is
developed to solve the obtained mechanical and thermal stability equations. The effect of
MFSSP’s parameters, including porosity and graphene characteristics, on the stability
responses have been studied. The results disclose that the addition of graphene significantly
improves the mechanical stability responses of MFSSPs. Furthermore, embedding more pores
in core layer can improve the thermal stability of MFSSPs without a considerable reduction in
their mechanical stability responses.

Keywords: Stability analysis; Multifunctional sandwich plates; Graphene nanocomposite;

Porous core; Piezoelectric layers

*
Email: [email protected]
†
Corresponding author, Email: [email protected]

2
1. INTRODUCTION

Integrating engineering passive structures with piezoelectric active layers as sensors and
actuators is a well-established technique to introduce smart structures with a wide range of
applications in different industries. The applications of such advanced and smart structures
determine the design of integrated passive structures between piezoelectric layers. However,
the demand of multifunctional and lightweight structures is the most well-known challenge in
high-tech industries. Due to the advantages of sandwich structures like low weight and high
strength, they could be proper candidates for the passive part of such smart structures [1].
Furthermore, these advantages of sandwich structures could be significantly improved by
purposely placing pores in core and nanofillers in skin layers according to certain profiles
called functionally graded (FG) distributions [2–5]. It should be mentioned that the stiffness
of outer layers is usually governed the overall structural stiffness, and the main task of cores is
the stabilization of sandwich structures such that a limited stiffness reduction in core has
almost a negligible reduction in the overall stiffness of sandwich structures. Therefore,
embedding pores in core layer is one of the best ideas to reduce the overall weight of
sandwich structures. The idea of FG distribution is inspired from functionally graded
materials (FGMs) which are a combination of two materials with a smooth variation of the
volume fraction of components in certain direction(s) [6–8]. Such porous structures can be
utilized for diverse purposes such as energy absorption, weight reduction and thermal
management [9,10]. Moreover, graphene nanoparticles with exceptional thermo-electro-
mechanical properties have been introduced as important nanofillers to produce
multifunctional nanocomposites with extensive applications like energy storage [11], gas
barrier [12,13], and hydrogen sensing [14].

Nowadays, nano-scale fillers like carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene with
astonishing properties comparing with those in micro-scale size, have been become
interesting candidates to enhance host materials [15–18]. Rafiee et al. [19] performed stability
tests on graphene nanocomposite (GNC) beams and showed that the use of graphene leads to
remarkable improvement in the stability responses of the nanocomposite beams. Ghorbanpour
Arani et al. [20] studied the effects of temperature and elastic medium on the vibrational
behavior of two-layered graphene using nonlocal theory. Safaei et al. [21] proposed a closed-
form analytical solution for the study of the stability behavior of chiral multi-walled CNTs.
Safaei and Fattahi [22] employed nonlocal model and different beam theories to study the free

3
vibrational behavior of single-layered graphene in elastic medium. Yang et al. [23] studied the
bending responses of axisymmetric multi-layered GNC plates under thermo-mechanical loads
using 3D theory of elasticity. Shen et al. [24,25] presented nonlinear static, buckling and
postbuckling responses of multi-layered GNC beams and plates using an analytical method.
Using a kp-Ritz mesh-free method combined with first order shear deformation theory
(FSDT), Lei et al. [26] analyzed the stability responses of multi-layered GNC plates in
thermal environments. Using FSDT and differential quadrature method (DQM), Wu et al. [27]
investigated the instability of multi-layered GNC plates under periodic mechanical loads in
thermal environments. Kiani and Mirzaei [28] showed that the thermal stability of laminated
beams could be significantly improved by introducing graphene as filler. Kiani [29] also
presented thermal postbuckling behavior of multi-layered GNC plates with temperature
dependent material properties by developing an isogeometric FEM based on Reddy’s TSDT.
Song et al. [30] employed FSDT and Navier’s technique to analytically study the stability and
static behavior of multi-layered GNC plates. Yu et al. [31] studied the postbuckling behavior
of sandwich plates with multi-layered GNC faces and homogeneous core using higher order
shear deformation theory (HSDT).

Embedding porosity, especially with FG distribution, in structures could introduce

another type of advanced structures with specific and manageable physical behaviors. The
formation of pores in a media such as polymeric foams, usually has two main reasons: (i) they
can be created due to some technical issues within production (ii) they also can be
intentionally embedded in a media to improve the controllability of the produced structures
[32,33]. The effect of embedding FG distribution of pores on the buckling and nonlinear
postbuckling responses of circular plates have been studied in Refs. [34–36]. Tang et al. [37]
studied the nonlinear stability responses of porous Euler–Bernoulli beams with FG
distribution of pores along both thickness and length directions of beams. Cong et al. [38]
developed a nonlinear Galerkin method based on Reddy’s TSDT to study the critical buckling
mechanical loads and temperatures of porous FGM plates. Thang et al. [39] studied the
natural frequencies and critical stability loads of FG porous plates by an analytical method
based on FSDT. For the same structures, Chen et al. [40] utilized FSDT based Chebyshev-
Ritz method to study the effect of porosity on static and stability responses. Duc et al. [41]
studied the nonlinear forced vibrational responses of porous FGM plates resting of elastic
foundations subjected to thermal environments and periodic mechanical loads. Xue et al. [42]
presented free vibration responses of FG porous circular and rectangular plates with a central

4
hole by an isogeometric FEM in combination with FSDT. Guessas et al. [43] employed an
FSDT based analytical method to investigate the stability of CNT nanocomposite porous
plates with FG distributions of CNTs and pores. Safaei et al. [44] studied the stability
response of sandwich plates consisting of a homogeneous core and CNT agglomeration
nanocomposite faces having a uniform distribution of pores. Dong et al. [45] studied the
stability response of rotary porous GNC cylindrical shells with FG distributions of graphene
and pores along the thickness of the proposed shells. Using Navier's solutions and different
beams theories including HSDT, Polit et al. [46] carried out the static and stability analyses of
FG porous GNC curved beams and compared the performances of utilized theories.

Regarding smart structures with piezoelectric layer(s), Rafiee et al. [47,48] employed
Galerkin and perturbation methods to present the nonlinear vibrational responses of FGM
cylindrical shells embedded in piezoelectric layers subjected to thermo-electro-mechanical
and aerodynamic loads. Jabbari et al. [49] studied the stability behavior of axisymmetric FG
porous circular plates embedded in piezoelectric layers. They also evaluated the thermal
stability of the same FG porous circular plates without piezoelectric layers [50]. Kundalwal
and Ray [51] utilized FEM and FSDT to study the active damping behavior of passive hybrid
composite plates reinforced with carbon fibers and wavy CNTs. They considered two active
piezoelectric patches on the one surface of passive composite plate. For cylindrical shells
made of the same hybrid composite materials with two piezoelectric patches, smart damping
behavior also presented in [52]. Kamarian et al. [53] studied the vibrational behavior of non-
uniform FG agglomeration CNT nanocomposite beams embedded in piezoelectric layers
using generalized DQM. In order to control the nonlinear vibrations, Kumar et al. [54]
proposed to attach a piezoelectric patch on the top of curved sandwich shells made of hybrid
composite reinforced with fuzzy fibers. Barati and Zenkour [55] presented the effect of
thermal and electrical loads on the nonlinear natural frequency of FG piezoelectric materials
with FG distribution of porosity. Shingare and Kundalwal [56] considered flexoelectric effect
for pristine and defective graphene sheets and using Kirchhoff's theory they studied
electromechanical responses of GNC plates. Askari et al. [57] employed FSDT and presented
the effect of porosity on the vibrational behavior of FG porous plates integrated with
piezoelectric layers. Nguyen et al. [58] studied the static and dynamic responses of a proposed
FG porous GNC plate integrated with piezoelectric layers by HSDT and isogeometric FEM
with Bézier extraction. For a proposed doubly curved sandwich shell with FG porous core and

5
 FG CNT nanocomposite faces embedded in piezoelectric layers, Setoodeh et al. [59]
presented the natural frequency responses of generalized DQM.

In this work, a lightweight multifunctional smart sandwich plate with a polymeric FG

porous core and two FG randomly oriented graphene/polymer nanocomposite layers
integrated with two active piezoelectric layers has been proposed. This proposal has been
motivated by enhancing the strength/weight ratio of structure and its extensive potential
applications. Using Reddy’s TSDT and a mesh-free method, the critical stability mechanical
loads and temperature changes of the proposed MFSSP have been investigated. Moreover, a
modified Halpin-Tsai’ approach is employed to estimate the material properties of GNC. The
effect of MFSSP’s parameters, including porosity and graphene characteristics, on stability
responses have been studied.

2. Modeling of the proposed MFSSP

The proposed lightweight MFSSP with two outer active piezoelectric layers, two inner
randomly oriented graphene/polymer nanocomposite layers and one porous core resting on
elastic foundation is depicted in Fig. 1. The proposed MFSSP with total thickness of h is
assumed to be under in-plane compression loads and electrical potential. The other geometries
of MFSSP are also depicted in Fig. 1. The considered profiles of graphene distribution in the
nanocomposite layers are described as:

Upper GRC layer: f r (z )  f r min  f 1   2z  hc  hf 

p
2hf  (1)

Lower GRC layer: f r (z )  f r min  f 1   2z  hc  hf 

p
2hf  (2)

where the volume fraction of graphene fr is varied from its minimum value fr-min at inner
surface to the maximum value fr-max at outer surfaces such that Δf = fr-max - fr-min.

In addition, three different profiles, namely uniform distribution (UD), symmetric

distribution (SD) and non-symmetric distribution (NSD), are considered for porosity
distribution. The schematic figure of these three profiles are shown in Fig. 2. According to the
described profiles, the elastic modulus Epc of porous core can be varied along the thickness as
[35–37]:
2
1 1 2 2 
UD: E pc  1  q 0  E c ,     1  q 0   1 (3)
q0 q0    

6
SD: E pc  1  q 0 cos  z hc   E c (4)

   z  
NSD: E pc  1  q 0 cos     Ec (5)
 
  4hc 4  
where Ec and q 0 are the elastic modulus of perfect (without porosity) core and porosity

parameter, respectively. Note that the same equations were utilized for Poisson’s ratio υc,
shear modulus Gc and thermal expansion coefficient αc.

Fig 1. Schematic of the proposed MFSSP including two piezoelectric layers, two
graphene/polymer nanocomposite layers and one porous core resting on a two-coefficient (ks
and kw) foundation and subjected to mechanical loads (Fx and Fy) and electrical input (V0)

(a) UD (b) SD (c) NSD

7
 Fig 2. Schematic of the (a) uniform, (b) symmetric (c) non-symmetric distribution of pores in
the core layer of the proposed MFSSP

2.1. Material properties of graphene nanocomposite

Among numerous micromechanics models have been proposed before, Halpin and Tsai
model has been heavily employed by researchers to estimate the mechanical properties of
fiber reinforced materials. In this approach, the longitudinal and transverse Young’s moduli
are expressed in terms of filler geometry, which can be used over a wide range of elastic
properties and fiber volume fractions. Additionally, the formulations are semi-empirical in
nature and involve parameters with physical meanings [60]. In this work, we assumed that
GNC layers are made of a polymeric matrix with randomly oriented and dispersed graphene
nanoparticles. The effective elastic modulus of such GNC layers can be evaluated using a
modified Halpin-Tsai’s approach to capture not only the shape of fillers [60] but also their
size scales [61]. To consider the size scale of nanofillers, Shen et al. [61] modified
conventional Halpin-Tsai’s approach by adding two efficiency parameters (η1 and η2) for the
longitudinal and transverse elastic moduli. According to the modified Halpin-Tsai’s approach,
the elastic modulus of GNC can be approximated as [60,61]:

3  1  2 aG / hG  11 f r m  5  1  2 bG / hG   22 f r m 

G G

E  1 E   2 E  (6)

8 1  G11 f r  8 1  G22 f r 

in which

E 11G E m  1 G
E 22 E m 1
G11  , G
 (7)
E 11G E m  2aG / hG E m  2bG / hG
22 G
E 22
where the thickness, width and length of graphene are shown with hG, bG and aG, respectively.
Longitudinal and transverse directions are respectively represented by subscripts 11 and 22.
Furthermore, the superscripts of G and m denote graphene and matrix, respectively. By
matching the results of molecular dynamic simulations and modified Halpin–Tsai’s model,
Shen et al. [61] calculated η1 and η2 for only fr = 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11% which are presented in
Table 1. However, we used Spline function and made an interpolation through the available
data of η1 and η2 to introduce GNC with the smooth variations of fr. Moreover, the Poisson’s
ratio of GRC is estimated by the simple rule of mixture method.

8
 The following equation reported in [62] is utilized to evaluate the thermal expansion
coefficient of nanocomposite layers reinforced with randomly oriented and dispersed
graphene:

 E  4 1    K  11  4 1    K  22
 (8)
E  4 1    K
2

where K is the bulk modulus of GNC and 11 and  22 are defined as follows [61]:

f r E 11G 11
G
 f m E m m
11  ,  22  (1  G ) f r  22
G
 (1   m ) f m m  11 (9)
f r E 11G  f m E m

where the volume fraction of matrix is shown with fm =1- fr.

Table 1 the efficiency parameters of graphene which have been utilized in the modified
Halpin-Tsai approach [61]

fr 3% 5% 7% 9% 11%
η1 2.929 3.068 3.013 2.647 2.311
η2 2.855 2.962 2.966 2.609 2.260

2.2.Governing Equations

For the proposed MFSSP, the coupled electro-mechanical constitutive equation between
the fields of stress σ , strain ε , electric E and electrical displacement D can be given as
follows [63]:

σ  Qε  eTE
(10)
D  eε  kE
where Q , e and k are the constant matrices of isotropic elastic stiffness, piezoelectric and
dielectric, respectively. By assuming piezoelectric polarization only along the thickness and
dividing σ , ε , Q and e to in-plane and out-of-plane components, the mentioned vectors
and matrices can be given by [63,64]:

σ  σb σs  , σb   xx  xy  , σs   yz  xz 
T T
 yy
T
(11)

ε  εb γ , εb   xx  xy  , γ   yz  xz 
T T
 yy
T
(12)

9
 Q 0
Q b
Qs 
(13)
0
0 0 0 0 e15 
ζ  ζ p 
ζs  , eb   0 0 
0  , es  e 24 0  (14)
e 31 e 32 0   0 0 

 k 11 0 0 
k   0 k 22 0  (15)
 0 0 k 33 

E   0 0 V ,z 
T
(16)

where V is electric potential.

For the proposed MFSSP rested on an elastic foundation, the strain energy U  is
induced by mechanical, electrical and foundation reactions. In addition, there is another
energy W g which is produced by the in-plane resulted forces. The summation of these

induced energies leads to the total energy function   U  W g of the proposed MFSSP.

U  and W g are given by [63]:

1
εTb σb  γT σs  ET D d     k w w 2  k s w ,x
1
  w , y    dA
2 2
U 
2V   2 A    
(17)

1  Fx 0  w ,x 
2 A 
Wg  w ,x w , y  
Fy  w , y  dV (18)
0 

where w,  and A are the transverse deflection, the volume and the downer face area of the
proposed MFSSP, respectively. Fx and Fy are the in-plane resultant forces along x and y
directions. Note that for MFSSP subjected to (i) biaxial mechanical loads, Fx = Fy, critical
stability load is equal to Fcr= Fx or Fcr= Fy, (ii) uniaxial loads, Fy = 0, critical stability load is
equal to Fcr= Fx. However, for MFSSP subjected to uniform changing of temperature T cr ,

in-plane resultant forces can be represented as [63]:

Qb 1 1 0  T cr dz
h /2
0  
T
 Fx
T
Fy
h /2
(19)

where Tcr  Tcr  300 .

10
 According to Reddy’s TSDT [65] with c1  4 3h 2 , the components of displacement
field along x direction (u), y direction (v), and z direction (w) of an arbitrary point in the
proposed MFSSP can be described as:

u  u 0 (x , y )  z  x (x , y )  z 3c1  x  w 0,x 
v  v 0 (x , y )  z  y (x , y )  z 3c1  y  w 0, y  (20)
w  w 0 (x , y )

here, subscript 0 is used for mid-plane displacements.  x and  y are transverse normal

rotations around the corresponding axes. Using Eq. (20) and linear parts of strain components,
the vectors of εb and γ are defined as [65]:

εb  ε0  zε1  c1z 3ε3 , γ  1  3c1z 2  γ 0 (21)

where

 u 0,x    x ,x    x ,x  w 0,xx 
       x  w 0,x 
εb   v 0, y  , ε1    y , y  , ε3    y , y  w 0, yy , γ0    (22)
u  v          2w   y  w 0, y 
 0, y 0, x   x ,y y ,x   x ,y y ,x 0, xy 

3. Mesh-Free Numerical Analysis

By employing moving least squares (MLSs) shape functions [66] for the utilized mesh-
free method and according to the definition of displacement field U in Eq. (20), the five
unknown parameters of Reddy’s TSDT can be approximated as [67–69] [70]:
n
ˆ  uˆ ,vˆ ,wˆ ,ˆ ,ˆ    N U
T
U  0i 0i 0i xi yi  i i (23)
i 1

where N i is MLS shape functions, Û is the virtual unknown values of displacement

vector and n is the total number of nodes. The employed MLS shape functions can be defined
at X(x,y)=Xi using cubic spline weight function W as:

N i ( X)  PT ( X) M( X) W ( X  Xi )P( Xi )

1
(24)
(11)

where moment matrix M and base vector P are considered as:

11
 n 
M( Χ)  W ( Χ  Χi )Ρ( Χi )Ρ Τ ( Χi )  , P(X)  [1, x , y , xy , x 2 , y 2 ]T (25)
 i 1 

Introducing the defined MLS shape function in Eqs. (16) and (20) leads to the following
definitions of the vectors of electric field and strains:

ˆ
E  BV V (26)

εb  B0  z B1  c1z 3 B3 U

ˆ , γ  1  3c z 2  B U
1 s
ˆ (27)

where Bv , B 0 , B1 , B 3 and B s are matrices with the components of MLS shape

functions and their derivations (See Appendix).

Introducing Eqs. (10), (23), (26) and (27) into total energy function  and the

derivation of  with respect to virtual potential V̂ and displacement Û vectors leads to

the following stability eigenvalue problem for the considered MFSSP:

K eq  cr K g  U
ˆ 0 (28)

where cr is the critical mechanical load Fcr or temperature change T cr and K eq is

defined as:

Keq  Kuu  Kuv Kvv1Kvu (29)

in which the geometrical K g , mechanical K uu , electro-mechanical coupling Kvu  KTuv

and piezoelectric permittivity Kvv stiffness matrices of the proposed MFSSP are defined as:

K g   BTp F B p dA (30)
A

Kuu   BT0 BT1 BT3  Qb B0 B1 B3  T dA   BTs BTs  Qs Bs Bs  T dA

A A
(31)
  NTw k w Nw dA   BTp k s B p dA
A A

Kuv   BT0 BT1 BT3  Ebe Bv dA   BTs BTs  Ese Bv dA (32)

A A

Kvv   BTv kBv  dA (33)

A

where Nw and B p are given in Appendix. The other utilized matrices are defined as:

12
  Fx 0
F
Fy 
(34)
0

 1 z c1z 3 

h /2
 h /2
 1 3c1z 2 
Qb    z 2 c1z 4  Qb dz , Qs    2  Qs dz (35)
 h /2  2 6  h /2 3c1z 9c12 z 4 
Sym . c1 z 

h /2 h /2

 1 z c1z 3  eb dz  1 3c1z 2  es dz
T T
Ebe  , Es   (36)
 h /2  h /2

h /2
k 
 h /2
k dz (37)

4. Results and discussions

The convergence and accuracy of the developed solution method are examined in this section.
This section also presents the critical stability loads and temperature changes of the proposed
MFSSPs. In the proposed smart plates, PMMA and G-1195N are selected for the porous core
and the piezoelectric layers, respectively. Furthermore, the nanocomposite layers of MFSSPs
are assumed to be made of PMMA as matrix containing randomly oriented graphene
nanoparticles. For the mentioned materials, the following material properties are considered
[61,71–73]:

Graphene (hG=0.188, aG=14.76 and bG=14.77 nm): E11G  1.8107 , E 22G  1.8078 TPa,

υG=0.177, 11G  0.90 ,  22

G
 0.95 (10-6/K);

PZT-G1195N: e31=e32=22.86 C/m2, k33=15×10-9 F/m, αp=23 (10-6/K), Ep=63 GPa, υp=0.3;
PMMA: αm=45 (10-6/K), Em=2.5 GPa, υm=0.34.

4.1. Validation of models

In order to establish the efficiency of the developed solution method, the critical stability
loads of a simply supported plate are compared with those reported by Varelis and Saravanos
[72], and Akhras and Li [73]. The plate has four graphite/epoxy layers as core and two PZT-5
piezoelectric layers as outer faces. It is assumed that the plate is subjected to uniaxial
compression load with the core layer arrangement of [0 90 90 0], a=b=200, hp=0.25 and

13
hc=0.5 mm. Considering the same material properties, Figs. 3a and 3b illustrate the critical
stability loads of plate as a function of node number (N×N) for open-circuit (only inner
surfaces of piezoelectric layers are grounded) and closed-circuit (both surfaces of
piezoelectric layers are grounded) electrical boundary conditions, respectively. Figure 3
shows very good accuracy and convergence of the developed solution method in both open
and closed-circuit conditions. According to Figs. 3a and 3b, the node arrangement of 21×21
has been utilized for the following simulations as a well converged node arrangement.

(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Critical stability loads of a composite plate integrated with piezoelectric faces under
(a) open-circuit (b) closed-circuit electrical conditions versus node numbers (N×N);
verification and convergence studies

4.2. Stability analysis of the proposed MFSSP

The thermo-mechanical stability loads of the proposed multifunctional smart sandwich
plates are presented in this section. For the following simulations, fully clamped square
MFSSPs with H/a=1/50, hc=15 mm, hg=2 mm and hp=0.5 mm under open-circuit electrical
boundary condition have been considered, unless otherwise expressed. In addition, for the
coefficients of foundation (Kw and Ks) and critical stability mechanical load Fcr , the
following normalized expressions have been utilized:

Fcr  Fcr a 2 E h  ,
p
3

K w  12k w a 4 (1  m2 ) E m h 3  and K s  12k s a 2 (1  m2 )  E m h 3  (38)

14
 In the first simulations, the effects of graphene distribution and its volume fraction on
thermo-mechanical stability responses are explored in Fig. 4. For this purpose, the volume
fraction of graphene particles in the nanocomposite layers of MFSSP with perfect core (q0 =
0) is assumed to vary from fr-min = 3% at inner surfaces to different values of fr-max at outer
surfaces. The variations are according to Eqs. (1)-(2) with p=0.1, 1 and 10. Fig. 4a shows that
both graphene characteristics have significant effects on uniaxial and biaxial Fcr . By better
enhancements of the stiffness of nanocomposite layers, the increase of fr-max and the decrease
of the exponent of graphene distribution p, both offer MFSSPs with higher uniaxial and
biaxial Fcr which means offering higher mechanical stability to MFSSPs. Furthermore, it is
observed that the values of critical uniaxial loads are almost two times higher than the
corresponding biaxial ones. In contradiction of Fcr , Fig. 4b shows that graphene volume
fraction does not have a significant effect on the critical temperature change of MFSSPs,
especially for p=1 and 10. The reason is that for critical stability temperature changes, the
thermal expansions of layers have the dominant effect. But, the increase of graphene volume
fraction does not have a significant effect on the overall thermal expansion of the proposed
MFSSP. It should be mentioned that the use of graphene can considerably increase the
Young’s modulus of nanocomposite layers. Moreover, due to the increase of graphene
volume, slight reductions in critical temperature changes are observed at higher values of p.

Figure 5 plots the first four stability mode shapes of MFSSP subjected to uniaxial and
biaxial mechanical loads. Furthermore, the values of critical loads are shown in Fig. 5. Due to
the completely symmetric conditions of clamped MFSSP subjected to biaxial loads, the
number of picks in the mode shapes are increased by the increase of mode number. The first
mode shape has only one pick. However, the second and third mode shapes have the same
shape with two picks in different directions because of having the same critical load. While
fourth mode shape has four picks. For the clamped MFSSP subjected to uniaxial loads, it is
observed that there is no repetitive critical load or stability mode shape because the loading in
not symmetrical.

15
 (a) (b)
Fig. 4. The variations of critical stability (a) mechanical loads (b) temperature changes versus
the volume fraction of graphene at the outer surfaces of nanocomposite layers fr-max for
different profiles of graphene dispersion indicated by p

Fcr1 =2.0973 Fcr2 =3.4753 Fcr3 =3.4753 Fcr4 =4.6411

(a) Biaxial

Fcr1 =3.9126 Fcr2 =4.3112 Fcr3 =6.7440 Fcr4 =8.3961

(b) Uniaxial
Fig. 5. The first to the fourth stability mode shapes of MFSSP subjected to (a) biaxial (b)
uniaxial mechanical loads with fr = 3%

16
 The other special parameters in the stability response of the proposed MFSSP are the
porosity characteristics of core layer. Considering MFSSPs with constant graphene volume
fraction of fr = 5%, Fig. 6 shows the critical stability values as a function of porosity
parameter q0 for the three predefined porosity profiles in Eqs. (3)-(5). Figure 6a shows that by
increasing q0 from 0 to 0.8, which means a considerable reduction in the weight of core layer,
the critical stability mechanical loads of MFSSP have less than 4.5% reduction. Another
interesting result of using porous core is observed in Fig. 6b where the critical stability
temperature changes of the proposed MFSSPs are increased by embedding more pores in core
layer. Figure 6b shows that the initial increase of q0 leads to a sharp increase in ΔTcr.
However, slight improvements in ΔTcr can be obtained for q0 > 0.5. Moreover, Fcr in
MFSSP with the symmetric and non-symmetric distributions of pores are higher than those
with a UD porous core. But, the use of UD porous core offers the highest ΔTcr.

(a) (b)
Fig. 6. The variations of critical stability (a) biaxial mechanical loads (b) temperature changes
versus the volume fraction of porosity in core layer q0 for uniform (UD), symmetric (SD) and
non-symmetric (NSD) profiles of porosity distributions

Figure 7 shows the effect of core thickness on the stability behaviours of MFSSPs with fr
= 5% for perfect (q0 = 0) and SD porous (q0 = 0.4 and 0.8) cores. Figure 7a shows that
MFSSPs with thicker cores offer lower values of Fcr . According to Eq. (38), the increase of h
reduces the value of normalized Fcr . Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of thicker
core increases the critical stability mechanical loads of the proposed MFSSPs. Because the

17
increase of core thickness can significantly improve the structural stiffness although the
stiffness of core material is not very high. Moreover, thicker cores offer MFSSPs with higher
temperature stability as shown in Fig. 7b. It is also observed that the porous core with q0 = 0.4
has the biggest values of ΔTcr when hc > 20 mm because porosity changes both thermal
expansion and Young’s modulus of core layer. However, for other core thicknesses, q0 = 0.8
offers the highest ΔTcr. It should be mentioned that embedding porosity in core layer does not
significantly affect the structural stiffness of MFSSPs but, it has an important effect on the
thermal expansion coefficient of whole the structure.

(a) (b)
Fig. 7. The variations of critical stability (a) biaxial mechanical loads (b) temperature changes
versus the thickness of core layer hc for three values of porosity parameter q0

The effect of the thickness of nanocomposite layers on the stability behavior of MFSSPs
with fr-min = 3%, fr-max = 11% and perfect core are shown Fig. 8. Figure 8a shows that MFSSPs
with thicker nanocomposite layers are more stable, because the use of thicker nanocomposite
layers improves the overall bending stiffness of the resulted MFSSPs. This improvement is
achieved due to the enhancement of moment of inertia. Like Fig. 4a, it is observed here that
the distribution of graphene particles has a remarkable effect on Fcr such that the increase of
p reduces the stability of MFSSPs under biaxial compression loads. It should be mentioned
that the increase of p results in a GNC with less amount of graphene content. Due to the same
reason, Fig. 8b also shows that the use of thicker nanocomposite layers improves the critical
stability temperature changes of MFSSPs such that the increase of hg from 1 mm to 10 mm

18
improves ΔTcr from around 70 to higher than 170 degrees. However, the distribution of
graphene does not have a significant effect on ΔTcr such that higher values of p introduce
MFSSPs with a little higher ΔTcr due to having less  .

(a) (b)
Fig. 8. The variations of critical stability (a) biaxial mechanical loads (b) temperature changes
versus the thicknesses of nanocomposite layers hg for three profiles of graphene dispersion
indicated by p = 0.1, p = 1 and p = 10

Considering MFSSPs with perfect core and fr = 5%, the effects of electrical boundary
conditions and the thickness of piezoelectric layers on the mechanical and thermal stability
behaviors are explored in Figs. 9a and 9b, respectively. Due to the enhancement of the overall
stiffness of MFSSPs, the use of thicker piezoelectric layers increasingly improves both Fcr
and ΔTcr of MFSSPs under open or closed-circuit electrical conditions. Furthermore, the
proposed MFSSPs under open-circuit condition have higher values of Fcr and ΔTcr than
those under closed-circuit conditions. The reason is that any mechanical deflection in
piezoelectric plates generates an electrical field which resists against or intensifies the
mechanical deflection. In these cases, the positive effect of piezoelectric behavior on the
stability responses of MFSSPs is observed.

19
 (a) (b)
Fig. 9. The variations of critical stability (a) mechanical loads (b) temperature changes versus
the thicknesses of piezoelectric layers hp for open and closed-circuit electrical conditions

Table 2 lists the uniaxial Fcr , biaxial Fcr and ΔTcr of MFSSPs with perfect core and fr =
5% for different coefficients of foundation and electro-mechanical boundary conditions where
C and S indicate edges with clamped and simply supported constrains, respectively.

The following conditions have been utilized to model edges with S or C boundary condition:

S: “v0 = w = θy = 0 at x=0 or a” and “u0 = w = θx = 0 at y = 0 or a”

C: “u0 = v0 = w = θx = θy = 0”

Table 2 shows that the use of foundation improves the stability behavior of the proposed
MFSSPs such that the shear coefficient Ks of foundation has stronger effects on both Fcr and
ΔTcr than the normal one Kw. The reason is the use of such foundation enhances the structural
stiffness of MFSSPs. Moreover, due to adding more restrictions on the deflections of
MFSSPs, the increase of the number of constrains in MFSSPs’ edges results in higher
mechanical and thermal stabilities such that fully clamped MFSSPs have the highest Fcr and
ΔTcr. In addition, the differences between the results of open and closed circuits disclose the
impact of having piezoelectric effect on the critical loads and temperature because a closed-
circuit MFSSP does not have any piezoelectric effect and the structure is passive.

20
 Table 2 Critical stability mechanical (uniaxial and biaxial) loads and temperature changes for
MFSSPs with perfect core and fr = 5%
Uniaxial Fcr Biaxial Fcr ΔTcr
(Kw,Ks) (0,0) (100,0) (0,10) (0,0) (100,0) (0,10) (0,0) (100,0) (0,10)
SSSS Open-Circuit 2.2721 2.3100 2.3469 1.1361 1.1550 1.1734 32.22 32.76 33.28
Closed-Circuit 2.0231 2.0610 2.0979 1.0116 1.0305 1.0489 28.69 29.23 29.75

CSCS Open-Circuit 3.9837 3.9932 4.0312 2.0232 2.0406 2.0606 57.39 57.88 58.45
Closed-Circuit 3.5746 3.5841 3.6221 1.8135 1.8307 1.8508 51.44 51.93 52.50

CCCC Open-Circuit 5.1397 5.1640 5.2040 2.7588 2.7742 2.7962 78.25 78.69 79.31
Closed-Circuit 4.6178 4.6421 4.6823 2.4759 2.4913 2.5133 70.23 70.66 71.29

The geometrical dimensions of the proposed MFSSPs including aspect ratio and the ratio
of H/a on Fcr and ΔTcr are studied in Fig. 10. From the figure, dramatic reductions in the
mechanical and thermal stabilities of the proposed MFSSPs are observed by the increase of
aspect ratio from b/a = 1 to 2. Considering the same ratio between the thicknesses of layers
and sandwich plates (ie: hc/H = 3/4, hg/H = 1/10 and hc/H =1/40), the increase of the overall
thickness of MFSSP sharply increases ΔTcr, especially for square MFSSPs as shown in Fig.
10b. The reason is that the increase of plate aspect ratio converts a square MFSSP to a
rectangular one which is less stable and behaves like a beam instead of a plate. Due to the
definition of Fcr , although the increase of H/a reduces Fcr , thicker MFSSPs offer structures
with higher mechanical stability Fcr .

(a) (b)
Fig. 10. The variations of critical stability (a) biaxial mechanical loads (b) temperature
changes versus the aspect ratio of MFSSP b/a for two values of thickness ratio H/a

21
5. Conclusions

By attaching two piezoelectric layers on the surfaces of a passive sandwich plate, a new
multifunctional smart sandwich plate was proposed in this paper. The passive sandwich plate
had a polymeric porous core and two graphene nanocomposite layers with different profiles of
graphene and porosity distributions. The stability responses of the proposed MFSSP under
mechanical compression loads and temperature changes were studied. The developed solution
method included a modified Halpin-Tsai’ approach, Reddy’s TSDT and a mesh-free method.
The effect of MFSSP’s parameters on the stability responses were examined and following
responses were observed:

 The increase of graphene volume fraction leads to a significant improvement in the

mechanical stability response of MFSSP although it does not have a considerable effect
on its thermal stability behavior.
 The distribution of graphene particles has a significant effect only on the mechanical
stability responses of the proposed MFSSPs.
 Embedding more pores in core layer improves the thermal stability behavior of MFSSPs
without a considerable reduction in their mechanical stability responses.
 MFSSPs with non-UD porous core have better mechanical stability behavior compared
with those with UD porous core although the opposite effect is observed in the thermal
stability behavior of MFSSPs.
 Piezoelectric effect improves both thermal and mechanical stability behaviors of
MFSSPs.

Conflict of Interest

None.

Acknowledgements

The work described in this paper was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada (NSERC under grant RGPIN-217525). The authors are grateful
for their supports.

Appendix

22
Bv  0 0 1/ h p  (A1)

 N i ,x 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N i ,x 0 
   
B0   0 N i ,y 0 0 0  , B1  0 0 0 0 N i ,y  ,
N i , y N i ,x 0 0 0  0 0 0 N i ,y N i ,x 
 
(A2)
0 0 N i ,xx N i ,x 0 
  0 0 N i ,x Ni 0 
B3  0 0 N i , yy 
N i 
0 N i , y  , Bs
0 0 2N i ,xy N i , y N i ,x  0 0 N i , y 0


0 0 N i ,x 0 0
Nw   0 0 N i 0 0 , B p  
0 0
(A3)
0 0 N i , y

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Graphical Abstract

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