Generalized thermoelastic waves in functionally graded plates without energy dissipation

In this paper, a dynamic solution of the propagating thermoelastic waves in functionally graded material (FGM) plate subjected to stress-free, isothermal boundary conditions is presented in the context of the Green-Naghdi (GN) generalized thermoelastic theory. The FGM plate is composed of two orthotropic materials. The materials properties are assumed to vary in the direction of the thickness according to a known variation law. The coupled wave equation and heat conduction equation are solved by the Legendre orthogonal polynomial series expansion approach. The convergency of the method is discussed through a numerical example. The dispersion curves of the inhomogeneous thermoelastic plate and the corresponding pure elastic plate are compared to show the characteristics of thermal modes and the influence of the thermoelasticity on elastic modes. The displacement, temperature and stress distributions of elastic modes and thermal modes are shown to discuss their differences. A plate with a different gradient variation is calculated to illustrate the influence of the gradient field on the wave characteristics. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.