Meccanica (2010) 45: 743–752
DOI 10.1007/s11012-009-9276-1
An analytical study on the nonlinear vibration
of functionally graded beams
Liao-Liang Ke · Jie Yang · Sritawat Kitipornchai
Received: 12 September 2008 / Accepted: 1 December 2009 / Published online: 18 December 2009
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract Nonlinear vibration of beams made of func-
tionally graded materials (FGMs) is studied in this
paper based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and von
Kármán geometric nonlinearity. It is assumed that ma-
terial properties follow either exponential or power
law distributions through thickness direction. Galerkin
procedure is used to obtain a second order nonlinear
ordinary equation with quadratic and cubic nonlinear
terms. The direct numerical integration method and
Runge-Kutta method are employed to find the nonlin-
ear vibration response of FGM beams with different
end supports. The effects of material property distrib-
ution and end supports on the nonlinear dynamic be-
havior of FGM beams are discussed. It is found that
unlike homogeneous beams, FGM beams show differ-
ent vibration behavior at positive and negative ampli-
tudes due to the presence of quadratic nonlinear term
arising from bending-stretching coupling effect.
L.-L. Ke · S. Kitipornchai
Department of Building and Construction, City University
of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
J. Yang ()
School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing
Engineering, RMIT University, P.O. Box 71, Bundoora,
VIC 3083 Australia
e-mail: j.yang@rmit.edu.au
L.-L. Ke
Institute of Engineering Mechanics, Beijing Jiaotong
University, Beijing, 100044, P.R. China
Keywords Functionally graded materials ·
Geometric nonlinearity · Beam · Nonlinear vibration
1 Introduction
Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are inhomoge-
neous composites characterized by smooth and contin-
uous variations in both compositional profile and ma-
terial properties and have found a wide range of appli-
cations in many industries. In recent years, the large
amplitude vibration and nonlinear analysis of FGM
structures have attracted increasing research efforts.
Praveen and Reddy [1] analyzed the nonlinear tran-
sient response of FGM plates subjected to a steady
temperature field and lateral dynamic loads by us-
ing the first-order shear deformation plate theory and
the finite element method. Reddy [2] developed both
theoretical and finite element formulations for thick
FGM plates according to higher-order shear deforma-
tion plate theory. Shen [3] analyzed nonlinear bend-
ing of a simply supported, FGM rectangular plate sub-
jected to a transverse uniform or sinusoidal load and
in thermal environments. Woo et al. [4] reported an
analytical solution for the nonlinear free vibration be-
havior of thin rectangular functionally graded plates.
Yang et al. [5] presented a large amplitude vibration
analysis of pre-stressed FGM laminated plates consist-
ing of a shear deformable functionally graded layer
and two surface-mounted piezoelectric actuator lay-
ers. Huang and Shen [6] discussed the nonlinear vi-
bration and dynamic response of functionally graded
744 Meccanica (2010) 45: 743–752

plates in a thermal environment by using improved

perturbation technique. Kitipornchai et al. [7] exam-
ined the effects of geometric imperfections on the non-
linear vibration of laminated FGM plates and found
that the nonlinear vibration frequencies are very sen-
sitive to the imperfection mode. Agarwal et al. [8]
used the existing statically exact beam finite element
to study the geometric nonlinear effects on static and
dynamic responses in isotropic, composite and FGM
Fig. 1 Geometry of an FGM beam
beams. Navazi et al. [9] and Navazi and Haddad-
pour [10] presented the exact solution for the non-
linear cylindrical bending and postbuckling of func- are assumed to change continuously along the thick-
tionally graded plates. Chen and his co-authors con- ness according to power law distribution
sidered nonlinear vibration of shear deformable FGM  
2z + h n
plates [11], initially stressed FGM plates [12] and ini- E(z) = (E2 − E1 ) + E1 ,
tially stressed FGM plates with geometric imperfec- 2h
  (1)
tion [13]. More recently, Yang and Huang [14] studied 2z + h n
ρ(z) = (ρ2 − ρ1 ) + ρ1
the nonlinear transient response of simply supported 2h
imperfect functionally graded plates in thermal envi-
ronments. The asymptotic solution is obtained by us- or exponential function
ing an improved perturbation approach, Galerkin tech- E(z) = E0 eβz , ρ(z) = ρ0 eβz , (2)
nique, and Runge–Kutta iteration process. Haddad-
pour et al. [15] examined the nonlinear aeroelastic be- where the subscripts 0, 1 and 2 denote midplane
havior of functionally graded plates in supersonic flow. (z = 0), the top surface (z = −h/2) and bottom sur-
Allahverdizadeh et al. [16, 17] presented the nonlinear face (z = h/2), respectively; β and n are the constants
dynamic analysis of thin circular functionally graded characterizing the distributions of material properties.
plates. Hao et al. [18] used the asymptotic perturbation n = 0 or β = 0 correspond to an isotropic homoge-
method to analyze the nonlinear oscillations, bifurca- neous beam. Poisson’s ratio v(z) is assumed to be a
tions and chaos of functionally graded materials plate. constant.
It should be noted that the above investigations are Based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, the dis-
for FGM plates and shells only. Although many stud- placements of an arbitrary point along the x- and
ies [19–27] on the linear dynamic analyses of FGM z-axes, denoted by Ũ (x, z, t) and W̃ (x, z, t) respec-
beams have been reported, to the best of authors’ tively, are
knowledge, no previous work has been done on the ∂W
nonlinear free vibration of FGM beams. The objec- Ũ (x, z, t) = U (x, t) − z ,
∂x (3)
tive of this paper is to study the nonlinear free vibra-
tion of FGM beams with different end supports based W̃ (x, z, t) = W (x, t),
on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and von Karman non- where t is time, U (x, t) and W (x, t) are displacement
linear strain-displacement relationship and examine components in the midplane. The von Kármán type
the effects of material property distribution, boundary nonlinear strain-displacement relationship gives
conditions, and vibration amplitude on the nonlinear
 
dynamic behavior of FGM beams. ∂U ∂ 2W 1 ∂W 2
εx = −z 2 + . (4)
∂x ∂x 2 ∂x
The normal stress σxx is given by linear elastic consti-
2 Formulations
tutive law as
   
Figure 1 shows an FGM beam of length L and thick- E(z) ∂U ∂ 2W 1 ∂W 2
σxx = − z + . (5)
ness h. Young’s modulus E(z) and mass density ρ(z) 1 − ν 2 ∂x ∂x 2 2 ∂x
Meccanica (2010) 45: 743–752 745

By using Hamilton’s principle, the equations of With (10) and (13) in mind and axial inertia being ne-
motion can be derived as glected, (6) and (7) can be reduced to
 2  4
∂Nx ∂ 2U B11 ∂ W ∂ 2W ∂ 2W
= I1 2 , (6) − D11 4
+ Nx0 2 = I1 2 . (14)
∂x ∂t A11 ∂x ∂x ∂t
2  
∂ Mx ∂ ∂W ∂ 2W It is should be noted that the above equation is nonlin-
+ N x = I 1 , (7)
∂x 2 ∂x ∂x ∂t 2 ear due to the fact that Nx0 is nonlinear in W .
Introducing the following dimensionless quantities
where the force and bending moment resultants are [28, 29]
   
∂U 1 ∂W 2 ∂ 2W ζ=
x
, (u, w) =
(U, W )
,
Nx = A11 + − B11 2 , (8a) L h
∂x 2 ∂x ∂x (15a)
  2  I1 h
∂U 1 ∂W ∂ 2W I¯ = , η= ,
Mx = B11 + − D11 2 , (8b) I10 L
∂x 2 ∂x ∂x  
A11 B11 D11
(a11 , b11 , d11 ) = , , ,
The stiffness components and inertia related term A110 A110 h A110 h2
are defined as  (15b)
t A110
 h/2 τ= ,
E(z) L I10
{A11 , B11 , D11 } = {1, z, z2 }dz,
−h/2 − ν
1 2

 h/2 (9) where A110 and I10 are taken as the values of A11
and I1 of a homogeneous beam. Equation (14) can be
I1 = ρ(z)dz.
−h/2 rewritten in dimensionless form as

If the axial inertia is neglected, (6) gives ∂ 4w ∂ 2w 2

¯1 ∂ w ,
d0 η 2 + N̄ x0 = I (16)
∂ζ 4 ∂ζ 2 ∂τ 2
   
∂U 1 ∂W 2 where
Nx = Nx0 or A11 +
∂x 2 ∂x 2
b11
∂ 2W d0 = − d11 ,
− B11 2 = Nx0 . (10) a11
∂x  1    (17)
1 ∂w 2 b11 ∂ 2 w
For beams with immovable ends (i.e. U = 0, at x = N̄x0 = a11 η 2
− dζ.
0 2 ∂ζ a11 ∂ζ 2
0 and L), integrating (10) with respect to x leads to
 L 
∂ 2W

3 Linear vibration analysis
0 = [U ]x=L
x=0 = A11 Nx0 + B11 2
0 ∂x
 2  The dimensionless governing equation for linear free
1 ∂W vibration of FGM beams can be obtained by substi-
− dx. (11)
2 ∂x tuting the linear force and bending moment resultants
without nonlinear components into (6) and (7)
Hence,
∂ 2u ∂ 3w
A11
 L  1  ∂W 2
B11 ∂ 2W
 a11 − b 11 η = 0, (18)
Nx0 = − dx. (12) ∂ζ 2 ∂ζ 3
L 0 2 ∂x A11 ∂x 2
∂ 4w 2
¯1 ∂ w = 0.
d0 η 2 − I (19)
From (8b) and (10), bending moments can be re- ∂ζ 4 ∂τ 2
expressed in terms of deflection as For harmonic vibration, let  be the natural frequency
  of the beam and express the displacements as
B11 ∂ 2W ∂ 2W
Mx = Nx0 + B11 2 − D11 2 . (13)
A11 ∂x ∂x u(ζ, τ ) = u∗ (ζ )eiωl τ , w(ζ, τ ) = w ∗ (ζ )eiωl τ , (20)
746 Meccanica (2010) 45: 743–752
√
where ωl = L I10 /A110 is the dimensionless linear 4 Nonlinear vibration analysis
natural frequency. Substituting (20) into (18) and (19)
and then solving the resulting differential equations, For nonlinear vibration analysis, the transverse dis-
one has placement is expressed as

w ∗ (ζ ) = f1 sin(λζ ) + f2 cos(λζ ) w(ζ, τ ) = w1 (τ )ψ(ζ ), (28)

+ f3 sinh(λζ ) + f4 cosh(λζ ), (21) where w1 (τ ) is the time dependent function to be de-
b11 ηλ termined and ψ(ζ ) is the linear fundamental vibra-
u∗ (ζ ) = [f1 cos(λζ ) − f2 sin(λζ )f3 cosh(λζ )
a11 tion mode. Inserting w(ζ, τ ) into (16) and applying
Galerkin’s procedure yields a second order nonlinear
+ f4 sinh(λζ )] + f6 ζ + f7 , (22)
ordinary differential equation
where λ4 = −ωl I¯12 /d0 , f1 to f7 are unknown con-
stants to be determined from boundary conditions. ẅ1 + γa w1 + γb w12 + γc w13 = 0, (29)
The present study considers three different end sup-
where a super dot denotes differentiation with respect
ports, i.e., hinged at both ends (H–H), clamped at both
to time, and
ends (C–C), or clamped at left end and hinged at right

end (C–H), with the following boundary conditions: d0 η 2 1 d4 ψ
γa = − ψ 4 dζ,
(i) hinged–hinged (H–H) 0 0 dζ
2  1 2  1
b11 η d ψ d2 ψ
u∗ = 0, w ∗ = 0, γb = − dζ ψ dζ,
2 dζ 2
(23) 0 0 dζ 0
Mx = 0, at ζ = 0, 1,  1   1  (30)
a11 η2 d2 ψ dψ 2
(ii) clamped–clamped (C–C) γc = ψ 2 dζ dζ,
20 0 dζ 0 dζ
 1
u∗ = 0, w ∗ = 0,
0 = I¯ ψψdζ.
dw ∗ (24) 0
= 0, at ζ = 0, 1,
dζ Note that γa = ωl2 . The values of γa , γb and γc for
(iii) clamped–hinged (C–H) different FGM beams are listed in Table 1.
Equation (29) contains a quadratic nonlinear term
dw ∗
u∗ = 0, w ∗ = 0, = 0, due to the presence of bending-extension coupling ef-
dζ fect in FGM beams (i.e. B11 = 0). This term, however,
at ζ = 0, (25a) vanishes and (29) reduces to a Duffing equation for ho-
∗ ∗ mogeneous beams and clamped–clamped FGM beams
u = 0, w = 0, Mx = 0,
because γb = 0 in both cases, as can be seen from Ta-
at ζ = 1. (25b) ble 1. This clearly indicates that FGM beams, except
in these two cases, have different vibration behavior
Applying the associated boundary conditions results at positive and negative amplitudes. When γb = 0, the
in a nonlinear algebraic equation exact solution of (29) has been obtained by Lestari and
[H (ωl )]{χ} = {0}, (26) Hanagud [30], and the nonlinear frequency (ωnl ) may
be expressed as
where H (ω) is a matrix nonlinearly dependent on the 
linear natural frequency ωl , χ is a vector composed of π γa + â 2 γc
ωnl = , (31)
seven unknown coefficients f1 to f7 . For non-trivial 2K
solutions of χ , the determinant of H (ωl ) must be zero where â is the maximum vibration amplitude; K is the
det[H (ωl )] = 0. (27) complete elliptic integral,
 π/2
dθ
Linear natural frequencies and associated mode shapes K=  , k 2 = γa + â 2 γc . (32)
can be solved from (27). 0 1 − k 2 sin2 θ
Meccanica (2010) 45: 743–752 747

Table 1 Dimensionless coefficients γa (×10−2 ), γb (×10−2 ) and γc (×10−2 ) in (29)

Exponential/ H–H C–C C–H

Power law γa γb γc γa γb γc γa γb γc

E2 /E1 = 0.2 3.2884 −2.9732 9.4166 14.383 0.0 11.720 7.0359 −2.2134 12.224
E2 /E1 = 1.0 3.1709 0.0 9.5126 16.294 0.0 11.720 7.7383 0.0 12.400
E2 /E1 = 5.0 3.2884 2.9732 9.4166 14.383 0.0 11.720 7.0359 −2.2134 12.224
n = 0.3 0.8417 −0.1384 2.4821 4.3057 0.0 3.0591 2.0464 −0.1016 3.2354
n = 1.0 1.1938 −0.2935 3.5903 6.0727 0.0 4.4265 2.8889 −0.2155 4.6796
n = 3.0 1.7433 −0.3617 5.4284 8.8965 0.0 6.6912 4.2300 −0.2656 7.0755

By multiplying (29) by ẇ1 and integrating with re- roots at ẇ1 = 0. The third root is a complex number.
spect to time, the following energy balance equation is When the bending-stretching coupling effect is present
obtained (γb = 0), (35) has two real roots at ẇ1 = 0 with one
2 1 being wmax and the other one being wmin (wmax =
(ẇ1 )2 + γa w12 + γb w13 + γc w14 −wmin ). The magnitude of wmin and wmax depends
3 2
on the sign and magnitude of γb . Hence, the nonlin-
= H = constant. (33)
ear vibration characteristics of FGM beams at posi-
The constant H is evaluated from initial conditions. tive amplitudes are different from those at negative
By assuming w1 = wmax and ẇ1 = 0 at τ = 0, one amplitudes. The similar phenomenon was observed
has, for asymmetric cross-ply composite beams as well by
Singh and Rao [31, 32]. In fact, FGM beams are quite
2 1
H = γa wmax
2
+ γb wmax
3
+ γc wmax
4
. (34) similar to asymmetric cross-ply composite beams in
3 2 the sense that they all have unsymmetrical through-
Putting H into (33) leads to thickness material property distribution but the mater-
ial properties of an FGM beam vary continuously and
2
(ẇ1 )2 = γa (wmax
2
− w12 ) + γb (wmax
3
− w13 ) smoothly.
3
By employing direct numerical integration method
1
+ γc (wmax
4
− w14 ). (35) (DNIM), the nonlinear period (frequency) of the FGM
2 beam is determined from
In the absence of bending-stretching coupling ef-
fect, i.e. γb = 0, (35) has two real, equal and opposite

 wmax
Tnl π dw1
= = , (36)
2 ωnl wmin ωl2 (wmax
2 − w12 ) + 23 γb (wmax
3 − w13 ) + 12 γc (wmax
4 − w14 )

where Tnl and ωnl are the fundamental nonlinear pe- w1 (0) = wmax , ẇ1 (0) = 0. (37)
riod and frequency. This integral is calculated by using
Gauss-Legendre integration technique.
Solving (29) by using the 4th -order Runge–Kutta 5 Numerical results
method, the associated vibration mode and phase
plane can be obtained. The time step used in the com- Table 2 gives the nonlinear frequency ratio ωnl /ωl of
putation is τ = 0.002. In each case, the beam is as- an isotropic homogeneous hinged–hinged beam with
sumed to be initially at rest, that is, L/ h = 20 and h = 0.1 m at different vibration am-
748
√
plitudes Wmax / ( = I /A where I the area mo-
ment of inertia and A the area of cross-section). The
exact solutions given by Lestari and Hanagud [28] and
Ritz-Galerkin solutions given by Singh et al. [33] are
also provided for direct comparison. It is observed that
the present results agree very well with those given by
Lestari and Hanagud [30] and Singh et al. [33].
Table 3 examines the effect of the number of
the modes in the Galerkin procedure on the nonlin-
ear frequency ratio ωnl /ωl of the isotropic homoge-
neous hinged–hinged and clamped–clamped beams
with L/ h = 20 and h = 0.1 m. Following Chandra
and Raju [34], it is assumed that W1 = Wmax and
Wm = 0.1W1 at t = 0 where Wm is the maximum
amplitude of the mth mode (m = 2, 3, . . . , N ). It is
found that the number of the modes has a slight ef-
fect on the nonlinear frequency ratio of hinged–hinged
beam. For clamped–clamped beam, however, the dif-
ference between the single mode and multi-mode so-
lutions increases as the vibration amplitude increases.
It is should be noted that the number of the modes
has a minor effect on the nonlinear frequency ratio
of both hinged–hinged and clamped–clamped beams
when Wmax / ≤ 2. Therefore, Wmax ≤ 2 is used in
all of the following examples.
Meccanica (2010) 45: 743–752
Table 4 lists the dimensionless linear natural fre-
√
quency ωl =  D0 /I10 for hinged–hinged and clam-
ped–clamped FGM beams whose material proper-
ties change exponentially along beam thickness as
described in (1) with E1 = 70 GPa, v1 = 0.33,
ρ1 = 2780 kg/m3 , L/ h = 20. Here D0 = D110 −
2 /A
B110 110 . A110 , B110 , D110 and I10 denote the val-
ues of A11 , B11 , D11 and I1 of an isotropic homoge-
neous beam. The present results agree very well with
the results obtained by Yang and Chen [22] based on
Euler-Bernoulli beam.
Table 5 and Figs. 2–5 present results for hinged–
hinged (H–H), clamped–clamped (C–C) and clamped–
hinged (C–H) FGM beams. Unless otherwise stated,
it is assumed that the beam thickness h = 0.1 m,
slenderness ratio L/ h = 16. For beams whose ma-
terial properties vary exponentially, the top surface of
the beam is 100% aluminum with material parame-
ters E1 = 70 GPa, v1 = 0.33, ρ1 = 2780 kg/m3 , and
Young’s modulus ratio is E2 /E1 = 0.2, 1.0, 5.0. Note
that E2 /E1 = 1.0 corresponds to an isotropic homoge-
neous beam. For beams whose material properties fol-
low power-law distributions, the top surface is 100%
silicon nitride (E1 = 322.2 GPa, v = 0.24, ρ1 =
2370 kg/m3 ) while the bottom surface is 100% stain-

Table 2 Comparison of nonlinear frequency ratio ωnl /ωl for a Table 4 Comparison of fundamental frequencies of FGM
hinged-hinged isotropic homogeneous beam beams

Wmax / Present Lestari and Hanagud [30] Singh et al. [33] E2 /E1 H–H C–C
Present Yang and Present Yang and
1.0 1.0892 1.0892 1.0897 Chen [22] Chen [22]
2.0 1.3178 1.3178 1.3229
3.0 1.6257 1.6257 1.6394 0.2 2.5127 2.51 5.2550 5.25
4.0 1.9760 1.9760 2.0000 1.0 2.4674 2.47 5.5933 5.59
5.0 2.3501 2.3502 2.3848 5.0 2.5127 2.51 5.2550 5.25

Table 3 Effect of the number of the modes in the Galerkin method on the nonlinear frequency ratio

Wmax / H–H C–C

1 term 2 term 3-term 1 term 2 term 3-term

0.5 1.0231 1.0240 1.0268 1.0056 1.0058 1.0081

1.0 1.0892 1.0926 1.1002 1.0222 1.0232 1.0319
2.0 1.3178 1.3288 1.3532 1.0857 1.0894 1.1214
3.0 1.6257 1.6456 1.6894 1.1831 1.1907 1.2553
4.0 1.9760 2.0050 2.0686 1.3064 1.3185 1.4203
5.0 2.3501 2.3881 2.4713 1.4488 1.4656 1.6068
Meccanica (2010) 45: 743–752
Table 5 Dimensionless linear natural frequencies of FGM beams (ω = L I10 /A110 )
Boundary condition Exponential
E2 /E1 = 0.2 E2 /E1 = 1.0
H–H 0.1813 0.1781
C–C 0.3792 0.4037
C–H 0.2653 0.2782
less steel (E2 = 207.7 GPa, ρ2 = 8166 kg/m3 ). The
gradient index n = 0.3, 1.0, 3.0 are considered.
The dimensionless linear fundamental frequencies
√
ωl = L I10 /A10 of FGM beams are listed in Ta-
ble 5. For exponentially varying FGM beams, the lin-
ear frequencies of graded beams with E2 /E1 = 0.2
and 5.0 are the same because their values of I10 /A10
are almost identical. The homogeneous beams, except
the hinged–hinged one, have higher frequencies than
the graded beams. In case of power law distribution,
the linear frequencies increase with an increase in gra-
dient index n.
Figures 2 and 3 plot the nonlinear fundamental fre-
quency ratio versus dimensionless amplitude (wmin
and wmax ) curves for FGM beams with material prop-
erties following exponential and power law distrib-
utions, respectively. All beams exhibit typical hard-
ening behavior, i.e., the nonlinear frequency ratio in-
creases as the vibration amplitude is increased. It is
seen in Fig. 2 that for hinged–hinged and clamped–
hinged graded beams (E2 /E1 = 0.2, 5.0), nonlinear
frequency ratios are dependent on not only the magni-
tude but also the sign of the vibration amplitude. Simi-
lar results can be observed from Fig. 3 as well although
the difference here is not significant. This is due to the
bending-stretching coupling effect term in (29). For
clamped–clamped beam and homogeneous beams, the
nonlinear frequency ratio is independent of the sign
of vibration amplitude because the quadratic nonlinear
term representing this coupling effect in (29) vanishes.
Figure 4 gives dimensionless vibration amplitude
as a function of dimensionless time for FGM beams
with exponentially distributed material properties.
The positive and negative maximum amplitudes are
the same for homogeneous beams (E2 /E1 = 1.0)
and clamped–clamped beams but are different for
hinged–hinged and clamped–hinged graded beams
whose positive maximum amplitude is larger (smaller)
than the negative maximum amplitude at E2 /E1 =
749
√
Power–law
E2 /E1 = 5.0 n = 0.3 n = 1.0 n = 3.0
0.1813 0.0918 0.1093 0.1320
0.3792 0.2075 0.2464 0.2983
0.2653 0.1431 0.1700 0.2057
0.2 (E2 /E1 = 5.0). These results imply that the non-
linear period at positive deflection cycle is not equal to
that at the negative deflection cycle for hinged–hinged
and clamped–hinged graded beams.
Figure 5 displays the phase plane diagrams (ẇ1
versus w1 ) for FGM beams with exponentially vary-
ing material properties. For homogeneous beams
and clamped-clamped FGM beams, the phase plane
diagrams are symmetric ellipses. The diagrams at
E2 /E1 = 0.2 and E2 /E1 = 5.0 are the same when the
beam is clamped at both ends. For hinged-hinged and
clamped-hinged FGM beams with bending-stretching
coupling effect, the diagrams are seen to be unsym-
metric about the w1 = 0 axis. It is found that under an
initial excitation with an amplitude of 1.0, a hinged–
hinged graded beam oscillates with an amplitude of
+1.0 in the direction of initial excitation, −0.8483 in
the opposite direction at E2 /E1 = 0.2 and −1.1642
at E2 /E1 = 5.0, respectively. Also, the area of the
diagram increases as Young’s modulus ratio E2 /E1
increases. The diagrams of clamped–hinged graded
beams are similar to those of hinged–hinged graded
beams.
6 Conclusions
The nonlinear vibration behavior of FGM beams is
studied within the framework of Euler-Bernoulli beam
theory and von Kármán type displacement-strain rela-
tionship. The materials properties are assumed to ei-
ther vary exponentially or follow a power law distri-
bution along thickness direction. The effects of ma-
terial property gradient, end supports, and amplitude
on the nonlinear dynamic behavior of the FGM beams
are discussed in detail. Numerical results show that
(1) all FGM beams exhibit typical ‘hardening’ be-
havior; (2) The nonlinear frequencies of homogenous
beams and clamped–clamped graded beams are not
affected by the sign of the vibration amplitude; and
750 Meccanica (2010) 45: 743–752

Fig. 2 Nonlinear frequency ratio versus dimensionless ampli- Fig. 3 Nonlinear frequency ratio versus dimensionless ampli-
tude curves for FGM beams with exponentially varying mate- tude curves for FGM beams with power-law material prop-
rial properties: (a) hinged–hinged, (b) clamped–clamped, and erty distributions: (a) hinged–hinged, (b) clamped–clamped,
(c) clamped–hinged and (c) clamped–hinged
Meccanica (2010) 45: 743–752 751

Fig. 5 Phase plane diagram for FGM beams with exponen-

Fig. 4 Time history of dimensionless amplitudes for FGM tially varying material properties: (a) hinged–hinged beam,
beams with exponentially varying material properties: (b) clamped–clamped beam, and (c) clamped–hinged beam
(a) hinged–hinged beam, (b) clamped–clamped beam, and
(c) clamped–hinged beam

Acknowledgements The work described in this paper was

(3) the nonlinear frequencies of hinged–hinged and
funded by a grant from City University of Hong Kong (Project
clamped–hinged graded beams are dependent on the No. 7002211). The authors are grateful for this financial sup-
sign of the vibration amplitudes. port.
752
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