Investigating the Effect of Applying Uniform Distributed Load on the Deflection of Simply Supported Axial - Functionally Graded Beam

Abstract

Axially-functionally graded materials are/ types of traditional composite materials in which the mechanical and physical properties are gradually varied from one end to the other. They were used extensively in industries such as defense, automotive and aerospace because of the ability to design its mechanical and physical properties. Two numerical models are built in this work in order to investigate the deflection of a simply supported beam made by axial-functionally graded material. The first model is the new model and it is built by adopting the Rayleigh Method, while the second model used the Finite-Element technique to build an 1D model utilizing the ANSYS APDL. The mechanical and physical of the axial-functionally graded beam were changed in axial direction according to Power-Law Equation. The new model, based on Rayleigh Method ANSYS- 1D model, shows an excellent agreement with the results and available literature. In addition to the validation of the two models, the influences of elastic moduli ratio and material distribution on the maximum static deflection and its position were studied. In ANSYS- 1D model, the position of the maximum deflection was deviated from the middle span of A-FG beam and this deviation in position of maximum deflection reduces, as well as increases the index of power-law equation and the elastic moduli ratio (ME-Ratio) when it diverges from 1.