Multiscale bending and free vibration analyses of functionally graded graphene platelet/ fiber composite beams

In the present work, bending and free vibration analyses of multilayered functionally graded (FG) graphene platelet (GPL) and fiber-reinforced hybrid composite beams are carried out using the parabolic function based shear deformation theory. Parabolic variation of transverse shear stress across the thickness of beam and transverse shear stress-free conditions at top and bottom surfaces of the beam are considered, and the proposed formulation incorporates a transverse displacement field. The present theory works only with four unknowns and is computationally efficient. Hamilton's principle has been employed for deriving the governing equations. Analytical solutions are obtained for both the bending and free vibration problems in the present work considering different variations of GPLs and fibers distribution, namely, FG-X, FG-U, FG-A, , and FG-O for beams having simply-supported boundary condition. First, the matrix is assumed to be strengthened using GPLs, and then the fibers are embedded. Multiscale modeling for material properties of functionally graded graphene platelet/fiber hybrid composites (FGGPL/FHRC) is performed using Halpin-Tsai micromechanical model. The study reveals that the distributions of GPLs and fibers have significant impacts on the stresses, deflections, and natural frequencies of the beam. The number of layers and shape factors widely affect the behavior of FG-GPL-FHRC beams. The multilayered FG-GPL-FHRC beams turn out to be a good approximation to the FG beams without exhibiting the stress-channeling effects.