On free vibration of non-homogeneous transversely isotropic magneto-electro-elastic plates

Two independent state equations are established for transversely isotropic magneto-electro-elastic media by introducing proper stress and displacement functions. The free vibration problem of simply supported rectangular plates with general inhomogeneous (functionally graded) material properties along the thickness direction is then considered. An approximate laminate model is employed to transform the state equations with variable coefficients to the ones with constant coefficients. Two different classes of vibrations are found. In particular, the frequency of the first class is only related to the elastic property of the plate, while that of the second class is affected by the couplings among the elastic, electric and magnetic fields. Numerical results are presented and some important issues are discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.