Thermal stress analysis of one- and two-dimensional functionally graded plates subjected to in-plane heat fluxes

This study addresses the thermal stress analysis of one- and two-dimensional functionally graded plates subjected to in-plane heat fluxes. The material composition variation is assumed in-plane, not through the plate thickness according to a power-law distribution in terms of the volume fraction of the constituents. The mathematical model considers the spatial derivatives of local mechanical and thermal properties. The heat transfer and Navier equations of the two-dimensional thermo-elastic model were discretized using the finite difference method, and the set of linear equations were solved using the pseudo singular value method. The performance of both one- and two-dimensional functionally gradient material plates was investigated under two types of in-plane fluxes: one-edge and two-edges. For each type of heat fluxes, one- and two-dimensional functionally gradient material plates exhibited different displacement, stress and strain distributions. The temperature levels and distributions were affected with increasing ceramic constituent in the composition variation of the plate. One-dimensional functionally gradient material plate was more suitable for an one-edge heat flux along the direction of material composition variation, whereas two-dimensional functionally gradient material plate was more effective on the relieving the thermal stresses for a two-edges heat flux.