Free vibration and sound insulation of functionally graded honeycomb sandwich plates

Based on the hyperbolic tangent shear deformation theory, free vibration and sound insulation of two different types of functionally graded (FG) honeycomb sandwich plates with negative Poisson’s ratio are studied in this paper. Using Hamilton’s principle, the vibration and vibro-acoustic coupling dynamic equations for FG honeycomb sandwich plates with simply supported edges are established. By applying the Navier’s method and fluid–solid interface conditions, the derived governing dynamic equations are solved. The natural frequencies and the sound insulation of FG honeycomb sandwich plates obtained in this work are compared with the numerical results by the finite element simulation. It is proven that the theoretical models for the free vibration and the sound insulation are accurate and efficient. Moreover, FG sandwich plates with different honeycomb cores are investigated and compared. The corresponding results show that the FG honeycomb core with negative Poisson’s ratio can yield much lower frequencies. Then, the influences of various geometrical and material parameters on the vibration and sound insulation performance are systematically analyzed.