In-plane material inhomogeneity of functionally graded plates: A higher-order shear deformation plate isogeometric analysis

Numerical investigation of buckling and free vibration of functionally graded plates considering in-plane material inhomogeneity is presented in this paper. A novel and effective approach based on isogeometric analysis (IGA) and higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) is developed for fulfilling that purpose, analyzing the critical buckling parameter and natural eigenvalues of functionally graded plates involving the in-plane material inhomogeneity. The HSDT allows us to account for shear deformation effect without requiring any shear correction factors. Non-uniform rational B-spline is used as basis functions, resulting in both exact geometric representation and high order approximations, enabling to easily achieve the C1-continuity requirement of the HSDT without any additional variables. The material properties of functionally graded plates are assumed to vary along in-plane direction. Numerical examples are presented and discussed, in which the effects of material inhomogeneity, length to thickness ratio and boundary conditions on natural frequencies and critical buckling loads are investigated.