An investigation of the thermodynamic effect on the response of FG beam on elastic foundation

This study presents an analytical approach to investigate the thermodynamic behavior of functionally graded beam resting on elastic foundations. The formulation is based on a refined deformation theory taking into consideration the stretching effect and the type of elastic foundation. The displacement field used in the present refined theory contains undetermined integral forms and involves only three unknowns to derive. The mechanical characteristics of the beam are assumed to be varied across the thickness according to a simple exponential law distribution. The beam is supposed simply supported and therefore the Navier solution is used to derive analytical solution. Verification examples demonstrate that the developed theory is very accurate in describing the response of FG beams subjected to thermodynamic loading. Numerical results are carried out to show the effects of the thermodynamic loading on the response of FG beams resting on elastic foundation.