Dynamic bending analysis of thermoelastic hybrid sandwich plates with metallic foam core and bidirectional FG skins on partial elastic supports

This work investigates the dynamic bending response of bidirectional functionally graded (BDFG) sandwich plates under various boundary conditions, resting on a partial elastic foundation in thermoelastic conditions. The sandwich comprises BDFG face sheets with spatially varying properties in two orthogonal directions and a metallic foam core. A quasi-3D analytical formulation with a reduced number of unknowns is developed. The partial foundation is described using Winkler-Pasternak parameters. Three boundary configurations are examined: simply supported, clamped, and free edges. Results show that the metallic foam core significantly modulates the mechanical response while contributing to lightweighting. The partial foundation critically alters the overall flexural rigidity. A key finding is that thermoelastic coupling and dynamic effects must be considered in design, as they can completely alter structural behavior. Notably, clamped supports, traditionally advantageous, may prove detrimental under combined thermal and dynamic loads. These findings provide useful guidelines for sandwich structure design.