Nonlinear thermoelastic wave propagation in general FGM sandwich rectangular plates.

• New analytical model is established for investigating thermoelastic wave propagation behavior of general FGM sandwich rectangular plates. • Refined analytical expression that preserves continuity is proposed to describe material properties of general FGM sandwich structures. • Approach for determining thermal strain energy of plate structures is presented by introducing Green's nonlinear strain. • Analytical model and theoretical framework are verified by numerical simulations and comparison with published date. • Systematic parametric analysis on thermoelastic wave propagation response of FGM sandwich rectangular plates. The present work is dedicated to investigating the thermoelastic wave propagation behavior of sandwich rectangular plates (SRP) made of functionally graded material (FGM). The main contribution lies in the partial modification of basic theoretical expressions and solution methods to improve the accuracy of practical system models. An analytical model with three types of general configurations is established. The porosity distribution in FGM layers depends on the degree of mixture of the constituent materials, with the FGM layers without porosity taken as a reference model. The effect of porosity within FGMs is addressed through a refined analytical formulation of material properties, and the temperature-dependent material properties of FGM sandwich structures (FGMSS) maintain continuity through the thickness. This improved framework introduces a porosity function encompassing three distinct structural and geometrical functions: the core-to-thickness ratio (CTR), porosity volume fraction (PVF), and porosity distribution function (PDF). It is worth mentioning that the theoretical expressions maintain good continuity and reliability under the influence of thermal conditions and system parameters of the proposed structures. Furthermore, considering the generation of thermal strain energy (TSE) caused by thermal expansion of the structure in the normal direction, an improved analytical approach for determining TSE in rectangular plate structures is then investigated by introducing the Green's nonlinear strain (GNS). Hamilton's principle is applied to derive the wave motion equations and analytical solutions for the wave dispersion relations are derived. Furthermore, accurate numerical simulation is performed and the solution is verified with data available in published resources. In addition, we present a systematic parametric analysis to examine the effects of porosity, configuration, power-law exponent (PLE), PVF, CTR, temperature, and wave number on the thermoelastic wave propagation behavior of FGMSRP. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]