Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333
DOI 10.1007/s11012-011-9436-y
Buckling analysis of functionally graded arbitrary
straight-sided quadrilateral plates on elastic foundations
P. Malekzadeh · M.R. Golbahar Haghighi ·
A. Alibeygi Beni
Received: 15 October 2010 / Accepted: 13 May 2011 / Published online: 14 June 2011
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
Abstract As a first endeavor, the buckling analysis
of functionally graded (FG) arbitrary straight-sided
quadrilateral plates rested on two-parameter elastic
foundation under in-plane loads is presented. The for-
mulation is based on the first order shear deformation
theory (FSDT). The material properties are assumed
to be graded in the thickness direction. The solution
procedure is composed of transforming the govern-
ing equations from physical domain to computational
domain and then discretization of the spatial deriva-
tives by employing the differential quadrature method
(DQM) as an efficient and accurate numerical tool. Af-
ter studying the convergence of the method, its accu-
racy is demonstrated by comparing the obtained solu-
tions with the existing results in literature for isotropic
skew and FG rectangular plates. Then, the effects of
thickness-to-length ratio, elastic foundation parame-
ters, volume fraction index, geometrical shape and the
boundary conditions on the critical buckling load pa-
rameter of the FG plates are studied.
P. Malekzadeh () · M.R. Golbahar Haghighi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Persian Gulf
University, Bushehr 75168, Iran
e-mail: p_malekz@yahoo.com
P. Malekzadeh ()
e-mail: malekzadeh@pgu.ac.ir
A. Alibeygi Beni
Department of Civil Engineering, Persian Gulf University,
Bushehr 75168, Iran
Keywords Buckling · FG quadrilateral plates ·
Differential quadrature · Elastic foundation
1 Introduction
Plates made of functionally graded materials (FGMs)
have found wide applications as structural members
in modern industries such as mechanical, aerospace,
nuclear engineering and reactors. On the other hands,
beams, plates and shells on elastic foundations have
been widely adopted by many researchers to model
interaction between elastic media and these struc-
tural elements for various engineering problems [1–8].
Hence, the buckling characteristics of FG plates on
elastic foundations under compressive in-plane loads
are of great interest for engineering design and manu-
facture.
The buckling analyses of isotropic and laminated
composite straight-sided quadrilateral plates were
studied by some researchers; see for example Refs.
[9–12]. However, to the best of authors’ knowledge,
the buckling of FG plates was restricted to plates hav-
ing unique simple plan-forms such as rectangular and
circular plates (see for example Refs. [13–18]). This
apparent void has thus formed the motivation of the
present work.
In order to overcome this shortcoming, in this
work the geometrical mapping technique in conjunc-
tion with the differential quadrature method as an ac-
curate and relatively simple solution procedure is em-
322
Fig. 1 An arbitrary straight-sided quadrilateral FG plate on two-parameter elastic foundations
ployed to study the mechanical buckling of FG ar-
bitrary straight-sided quadrilateral plates. In study-
ing the global behaviors of the structural elements
such as buckling and free vibration analysis, bet-
ter convergence behavior together with less computa-
tional efforts is observed by DQM compared with its
peer numerical competent techniques such as the fi-
nite element method, the finite difference method, the
boundary element method and the meshless technique
[3, 8, 12, 19, 20].
To solve the problem under consideration, by us-
ing a four-nodded element, the straight-sided quadri-
lateral domain is mapped into a square computational
domain. Then, the spatial derivatives in the differen-
tial equations and the related boundary conditions are
transformed from the physical domain into the compu-
tational domain by employing the geometrical trans-
formation. Consequently, the differential quadrature
method is employed to discretize the spatial deriva-
tives and change the governing equations into a sys-
tem of algebraic eigenvalue equations. The solution
of this equation gives the critical buckling load pa-
rameter. Numerical examples illustrating the conver-
gence and accuracy of the method are presented and
the obtained results are compared with those of the
other available solution for the skew isotropic and FG
rectangular plates. Then, the effects of different pa-
rameters on the critical buckling load parameter of FG
quadrilateral plates are studied.
2 Theoretical formulation
Consider a moderately thick FG arbitrary straight-
sided quadrilateral plate which is made from a mixture
of ceramics and metals as shown in Fig. 1. A Cartesian
Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333
coordinate system (x, y, z) is used to label the material
points of the plate in the unstressed reference configu-
ration. The material properties of the plate are assumed
to vary continuously through the thickness of the plate.
Without loss of generality of the formulation and
the method of solution, in this study the effective ma-
terial properties of the FG plate is obtained by using
the power law distribution,
P (z) = Pm + (Pc − Pm )(Vf )p (1)
where P denotes a generic material property, Pc and
Pm are the corresponding values at the upper surface
(ceramic) and lower surface (metal) of the plate and
Vf [= (2z + h)/2h] is the volume fraction; p denotes
the volume fraction index (or material graded index),
which is a positive real number.
The stability equations of the plate can be de-
rived by using the adjacent equilibrium (Trefftz) cri-
teria [21]. For this purpose, assume that the equilib-
rium state of the FG plate under in-plane load is de-
fined in terms of displacement components ū, v̄ and
w̄, in the x, y and z-directions, respectively. Then
the displacement components of a neighboring sta-
ble state can be denoted as ū + u, v̄ + v and w̄ + w
in the x, y and z-directions, respectively. For thin-
to-moderately thick plates under uniform external in-
plane edge loads, the equilibrium stresses can be as-
sumed to be constant within the plate [13–18, 22, 23]
and consequently equal to those applied on the edges
of the plate. Hence, an equilibrium analysis to evaluate
the displacement components in the equilibrium state
is not necessary. Considering this fact, based on Tre-
fftz criteria the stability equations can be derived from
the stationary condition of the second variation of the
Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333 323

total potential energy, which in this case becomes, and performing the integration by parts with respect to
 h  the in-plane coordinate variable x and y. The results
δ(δ̄ 2 ) = σxx δεxx + σyy δεyy + 2σxz δεxz of which are,
0 A
  Stability equations:
σ̂xx ∂w 2 δu:
+ 2σyz δεyz + 2σxy δεxy +
2 ∂x
 2 ∂ 2u i ∂ v
2 ∂ 2ϕx
σ̂yy ∂w An + (Ân + As ) + Bn
+ δ ∂x 2 ∂x∂y ∂x 2
2 ∂y
  ∂ 2ϕy ∂ 2u ∂ 2ϕx
∂w ∂w + (B̂n + Bsi ) + Ais 2 + Bsi = 0, (6)
+ σ̂xy δ dA dz = 0 (2) ∂x∂y ∂y ∂y 2
∂x ∂y
δv:
where  is the total potential energy of the plate; σij
and εij (i, j = x, y, z) are the stress and linear strain ∂ 2u ∂ 2v ∂ 2ϕx
(Ân + Ais ) + An 2 + (B̂n + Bsi )
components due to the perturbed displacement compo- ∂x∂y ∂y ∂x∂y
nents (u, v, w); σ̂ij (i, j = x, y) are the applied stress ∂ 2ϕy 2 2 y
i∂ v i∂ ϕ
components on the edges of the plate. Also, σij are + Bn + As + Bs = 0, (7)
∂y 2 ∂x 2 ∂x 2
related to the strain components εij according to the
plane stress constitutive relations as, δϕ x :
 
 
σxx C11 C12 εxx ∂ 2u ∂ 2v ∂ 2ϕx
= , σxy = 2C66 εxy , Bn 2
+ (B̂n + Bsi ) + Dn
σyy C12 C22 εyy ∂x ∂x∂y ∂x 2
(3a–d)
∂ 2ϕy ∂ 2u ∂ 2ϕx
+ (D̂n + Dsi ) + Bsi 2 + Dsi
σxz = 2κC55 εxz , σyz = 2κC44 εyz ∂x∂y ∂y ∂y 2
 
∂w
where κ is the shear correction factor and − As ϕ x + = 0, (8)
∂x
E(z)
C11 (z) = C22 (z) = , δϕ y :
1 − ν 2 (z)
ν(z)E(z) ∂ 2u ∂ 2v ∂ 2ϕx
C12 (z) = , (4a–c) (B̂n + Bsi ) + Bn 2 + (D̂n + Dsi )
1 − ν 2 (z) ∂x∂y ∂y ∂x∂y
E(z)
C44 (z) = C55 (z) = C66 (z) = ∂ 2ϕy 2
i∂ v
2 y
i∂ ϕ
2[1 + ν(z)] + Dn + B s + D s
∂y 2 ∂x 2 ∂x 2
 
E and ν are Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of ∂w
an arbitrary point of the plate. − As ϕ y + = 0, (9)
∂y
The perturbed displacement components of an arbi-
trary material point of the plate according to the FSDT δw:
are approximated in the thickness direction as, ∂ 2w ∂ 2w
(As + ks ) 2
+ (As + ks ) 2 − kw w
u(x, y, z) = u0 (x, y) + zϕ x (x, y), ∂x ∂y
 x 
v(x, y, z) = v0 (x, y) + zϕ y (x, y), ∂ϕ ∂ϕ y ∂ 2w ∂ 2w
(5) + As + − N̂xx 2 − N̂yy 2
∂x ∂y ∂x ∂y
w(x, y, z) = w0 (x, y),
∂ 2w
− 2N̂xy = 0. (10)
where u0 , v0 and w0 are the displacement components ∂x∂y
of a material point of the mid-plane in the x, y and z-
directions; ϕ x and ϕ y are the flexural rotations about Boundary conditions:
the y- and x-axis, respectively. The stability equations Either δun = 0 or
and the related boundary conditions can be obtained in (11)
a systematic manner by inserting (3a–d)–(5) into (2) Nnn = n2x Nxx + 2nx ny Nxy + n2y Nyy = 0,
324 Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333

Either δus = 0 or Different types of classical boundary conditions at

(12) the edges of the plate can be obtained by combin-
Nns = (n2x − n2y )Nxy − nx ny (Nyy − Nxx ) = 0,
ing the conditions stated in (11)–(15). Two types of
Either δϕ = 0 n
or boundary conditions that are considered in this study
(13)
Mnn = n2x Mxx + 2nx ny Mxy + n2y Myy = 0, are as follows,

Either δϕ = 0 or
s
Immovable or hard simply support (S):
(14)
Mns = (n2x − n2y )Mxy − nx ny (Myy − Mxx ) = 0,
un = 0, us = 0, ϕ s = 0, w = 0, Mnn = 0, (18)
Either δw = 0 or
Clamped (C):
∂w ∂w ∂w
Qnz + ks + nx N̂xx + ny N̂yy
∂n ∂x ∂y (15) un = 0, us = 0, ϕ s = 0, w = 0, ϕ n = 0.
 
∂w ∂w (19)
+ N̂xy ny + nx = 0,
∂x ∂y

where 3 Solution procedure

Qnz = nx Nxz + ny Nyz , un = nx u + ny v, If it is not impossible to solve the system of (6)–(15)

analytically, it is very difficult to obtain such a solu-
us = −ny u + nx v, ϕ n = nx ϕ x + ny ϕ y , (16a–f) tion. Hence, the differential quadrature method as an
∂w ∂w ∂w efficient and accurate numerical tool [3, 8, 12, 20, 22]
ϕ s = −ny ϕ x + nx ϕ y , = nx + ny .
∂n ∂x ∂y is employed to solve this system of equations. But
since the two-dimensional computational domain of
In the above equations, kw and ks are the stiffness this method is a rectangular domain, a geometric trans-
coefficients of Winkler and shearing layers of the elas- formation is necessary to transform irregular physi-
tic foundation, respectively. The resultant stresses and cal domain to such a DQ computational domain. For
the plate stiffness coefficients are defined as, straight-sided quadrilateral plates, one can use the
four-nodded element of the conventional finite ele-
 h
ment method to perform this transformation. For this
N̂ij = σ̂ij dz with i, j = x, y;
0 purpose, consider an arbitrary straight-sided quadrilat-
⎧ ⎫ ⎡ ⎤ ⎧ ∂u ⎫ eral plate shown in Fig. 2. The coordinate axes of the
⎪ Nxx ⎪ An Ân Bn B̂n ⎪
⎪ ∂x ⎪
⎪ computational domain are denoted by ξ and η.
⎪
⎪ ⎪ ⎢ ⎥⎪ ⎪
⎨N ⎪ ⎬ ⎢ Â An B̂n
⎪ ∂v
Bn ⎥ ⎨ ∂y
⎪
⎬ The mapping process follows the standard proce-
=⎢ ⎥
yy n
⎢ ⎥ ∂ϕ x , dure used widely in conventional finite element for-
⎪
⎪ ⎪
Mxx ⎪ ⎣ Bn B̂n Dn D̂n ⎦ ⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩ ⎪
⎭ ⎪ ∂x
⎪ ∂ϕ ⎪
⎪ mulations,
Myy ⎩ y ⎭
B̂n Bn D̂n Dn ∂y

4 
4
⎧ ⎫ ⎡ i ⎤ ⎧ ∂u + ∂v ⎫
x= xi ψi (ξ, η), y= yi ψi (ξ, η), (20)
⎪ Nxy ⎪ As Bsi 0 0 ⎪ ⎪ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎪ ⎪ ∂y ∂x ⎪
⎨M ⎪ ⎬ ⎢ Bi Dsi 0 ⎥
⎪
⎨ ∂ϕ x + ∂ϕ y ⎪
⎬ i=1 i=1
xy ⎢ s 0 ⎥ ∂y ∂x
=⎢ ⎥ ,
⎪ Nxz ⎪
⎪ ⎪ ⎣ 0 0 As 0 ⎦⎪⎪ ϕ x + ∂w ⎪
⎪ where xi and yi are the coordinates of the i-th node in
⎪
⎩ ⎪
⎭ ⎪
⎪ ∂x ⎪
⎪
As ⎩ ϕ y + ∂w ⎭ the physical domain; also, ψi (ξ, η) is the shape func-
Nyz 0 0 0 ∂y tion associated with the i-th node and is defined as,

 h

An Bn Dn 2 1 ψi = (−1)i+1 (1 − ξi − ξ )(1 − ηi − η)
= C11 (z) [ 1 z z2 ] dz,
Ân B̂n D̂n − h2 ν
for i = 1, 2, 3, 4 (21)

 h

As Bs 0 2 κ
= C44 (z) [ 1 z z2 ] dz. Now, one can use the geometric transformation (20)
Ais Bsi Dsi − h2 1 in conjunction with the chain rules to change the first-
(17a–e) and second-order derivatives of an arbitrary function
Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333 325

Fig. 2 (a) Physical domain, (b) computational domain

with respect to x- and y-coordinate variables to ξ - and Based on the DQ method, the plate is discretized
η-coordinate variables as, into Nξ and Nη grid points along the ξ - and η-
⎧ ⎫ directions, respectively. Then, at each grid point
    ⎪ ( ),xx ⎪
( ),x ( ),ξ ⎨ ⎬ (ξi , ηj ) with i = 1, 2, . . . , Nξ and j = 1, 2, . . . , Nη ,
= [J11 ] , ( ),yy the spatial derivatives in the computational domain can
( ),y ( ),η ⎪ ⎩ ⎪
⎭
( ),xy be discretized as,
    ⎧ ⎫
( ),ξ ( ),ξ ⎨ Nξ Aξ ( )mj ⎬
= −[J22 ][J21 ][J11 ] = m=1
im
,
( ),η ( ),η ⎩ Nη Aη ( )in ⎭
(ξi ,ηj ) n=1 j n
⎧ ⎫
⎪
⎨ ( ),ξ ξ ⎪
⎬ ⎧ ⎫ ⎧  Nξ ξ
⎫
⎪ ( ) ⎪ ⎪
⎪ Bim ( )mj ⎪
⎪
+ [J22 ] ( ),ηη , (22a,b) ⎨ ,ξ ξ ⎬ ⎨ m=1
 Nη η ⎬
⎪
⎩ ⎪
⎭ ( ),ηη = B ( ) ,
( ),ξ η ⎪
⎩ ⎪
⎭ ⎪
⎪  
n=1 j n in
⎪
⎪
( ),ξ η (ξ ,η ) ⎩ N ξ N η ξ η ⎭
2 i j m=1 n=1 Aim Aj n ( )mn
∂ ()
where ( ),αβ = ∂α∂β . The components of the transfor- (24a,b)
mation matrices are,
⎡ ⎤ β β
where Aij and Bij (β = ξ, η) are the weighting coef-

x,ξ ξ y,ξ ξ
x,ξ y, ξ ⎢ ⎥ ficients of the first- and the second-order derivatives
[J11 ]−1 = , [J21 ] = ⎣ x,ηη y,ηη ⎦ ,
x,η y,η along the β-direction.
x,ξ η y,ξ η The important components of the DQ approxima-
⎡ ⎤ tion are the weighting coefficients and the choice of
(x,ξ )2 (y,ξ )2 2x,ξ y,ξ
⎢ ⎥ sampling points. Here, the weighting coefficients are
[J22 ]−1 = ⎣ (x,η )2 (y,η )2 2x,η y,η ⎦. obtained from the explicit formulation presented by
x,ξ x,η y,ξ y,η x,ξ y,η +x,η y,ξ Shu and Richards [24], which are derived by using the
(23a–c) Lagrange polynomials as the test functions in (24a,b),
The above transformations are used to transform ⎧ M(β )
⎪ i
⎨ (βi −βj ) i = j
the governing differential equations and the related β
Aij = Nβ β
boundary conditions from the physical domain x–y ⎪
⎩ − j =1 Aij i=j
into the computational domain ξ –η. Then, the differ- i=j
ential quadrature rules are employed to discretize the
derivatives. i, j = 1, 2, . . . , Nβ and β = ξ, η, (25)
326 Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333

Table 1 Convergence and comparison study of the critical buckling load parameter cr [= N̂xx b2 /(π 2 D)] of isotropic square plate
under uni-axial load (κ = 5/6)

Nξ h/a (CCCC) h/a (SSSS)

0.05 0.1 0.2 0.05 0.1 0.2

Present 7 9.6421 8.3838 5.4134 3.9459 3.7878 3.2647

9 9.5605 8.2933 5.3176 3.9444 3.7864 3.2637
13 9.5586 8.2916 5.3156 3.9444 3.7865 3.2637
17 9.5587 8.2917 5.3156 3.9444 3.7865 3.2637

Pb2-Ritz-method [22] 9.5588 8.2917 5.3156 3.944 3.786 3.264

Table 2 Convergence and comparison study of the critical buckling load parameter cr [= N̂xx b2 /(π 2 D)] for isotropic skew plate
under uni-axial compression load (a/b = 1, h/a = 0.001, κ = 5/6)

Nξ CCCC SSSS
θ = 0° θ = 15° θ = 30° θ = 45° θ = 0° θ = 15° θ = 30° θ = 45°

Present 7 5.4134 5.6470 6.5048 8.7688 3.2647 3.5233 4.4360 6.0602

9 5.3176 5.4953 6.0613 7.2581 3.2637 3.5242 4.4356 6.0682
13 5.3156 5.4913 6.0328 6.9719 3.2637 3.5278 4.4342 6.0712
17 5.3156 5.4913 6.0328 6.9707 3.2637 3.5302 4.4341 6.0730

DCM-[11] 5.3147 5.4932 6.0553 6.9716 3.2637 3.5329 4.4509 6.1542

Table 3 Convergence and comparison study of the critical buckling load parameter cr (= N̂xx b2 /D) for isotropic rectangular plate
rested on elastic foundation subjected to uni-axial load (κ = 5/6)

Nξ (k̂w , k̂s )
(0, 0) (0, 100) (100, 0) (100, 100)

Present 7 4.0015 18.816 5.0281 19.073

9 4.0000 18.930 5.0266 19.187
13 4.0000 18.915 5.0266 19.172
17 4.0000 18.915 5.0266 19.172

Exact-[23] 4.000 18.92 5.027 19.17

Nβ
where M(βi ) = j =1 (βi − βj ). The weighting coef- study, this type of grid generation rule is used [20],
i=j
  
ficients for the second-order derivatives are obtained 1 (i − 1)π
as, βi = 1 − cos
2 (Nβ − 1)
β β β β
[Bij ] = [Aij ][Aij ] = [Aij ]2 , β = ξ, η, (26) for β = ξ, η and i = 1, 2, . . . , Nβ . (27)

A natural grid generation rule is that of equally Employing the aforementioned solution procedure,
spaced points. However, a better choice is that corre- the DQ-discretized form of the stability equations (6)–
sponding to zeros of the orthogonal polynomials such (10) and the boundary conditions (11) and (15) can be
as the zeros of the Chebyshev polynomials. In this written as,
Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333 327

N̂xx
Table 4 Convergence and comparison study of the critical buckling load parameter cr (= Ec h ) for simply supported FG square plate
under uni-axial load (κ = 5/6)

Nξ h/a = 0.1 h/a = 0.2

p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=4 p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=4

Present 7 0.03423 0.02233 0.01724 0.01164 0.1180 0.07812 0.06068 0.04024

9 0.03422 0.02233 0.01723 0.01163 0.1180 0.07810 0.06066 0.04023
13 0.03422 0.02233 0.01723 0.01163 0.1180 0.07810 0.06066 0.04023
17 0.03422 0.02233 0.01723 0.01163 0.1180 0.07810 0.06066 0.04023

Navier-[17] 0.03381 0.02214 0.01698 0.011310 0.1140 0.07571 0.05826 0.03721

Table 5 The critical buckling load parameter (cr ) for clamped and simply supported FG quadrilateral plate subjected to uni-axial
load (b/a = 0.8, c/a = 0.7, α = 70°, β = 75°)

h/a p (k̂w , k̂s ) − CCCC (k̂w , k̂s ) − SSSS

(0, 0) (102 , 10) (103 , 102 ) (0, 0) (102 , 10) (103 , 102 )

0.05 0 17.804 19.801 32.980 7.9043 10.666 26.080

0.5 11.664 13.646 26.316 5.1368 7.8948 22.115
1 9.0181 10.991 23.394 3.9523 6.7049 20.393
5 5.8547 7.6993 19.715 2.5945 5.1918 18.310

0.1 0 13.882 15.528 27.604 7.3301 10.062 24.257

0.5 9.3074 10.935 22.826 4.8015 7.5208 20.953
1 7.2745 8.8781 20.639 3.7092 6.3693 19.509
5 4.5464 6.0178 17.289 2.4051 4.6155 16.728

0.2 0 7.1285 8.4313 18.956 5.6762 7.4474 18.884

0.5 4.9836 6.2891 16.659 3.8107 5.5702 16.624
1 3.9788 5.2817 15.526 2.9773 4.7059 15.508
5 2.3128 3.5661 13.357 1.8538 3.3892 13.352

Equations (6)–(9): the geometrical stiffness matrix; and “” is the buck-
ling load parameter. The subscripts “b” and “d” stand
[Sdd
uu
]{U }d + [Sdb
uu
]{U }b + [Sdd
uw
]{w}d = {0}, (28) for the boundary and domain degrees of freedom, re-
spectively. Using (28) and (30) to eliminate the bound-
Equation (10): ary in-plane and rotation degrees of freedom from
(29), one obtains a standard eigenvalue problem,
[Sdd
wu
]{U }d + [Sdb
wu
]{U }b + [Sdd
ww
]{w}d − [G]{w}d
([S] − [G]){w} = {0}, (31)
= {0}, (29)
where
Equations (18) and (19):
[S] = [Sdd
ww
] − [Ŝ][S̄]−1 [Sdd
uw
],
[Sbb ]{U }b + [Sbd ]{U }d = {0},
uu uu
(30)
uu −1 uu
[S̄] = [Sdd
uu
] − [Sdb
uu
][Sbb ] [Sbd ],
y
where {U } = [{uij {vij }T }T {ϕijx }T {ϕij }T ]T ; [Sijαβ ]
is
uu −1 uu
the stiffness matrix (α, β = u, w; i, j = b, d); [G] is [Ŝ] = [Sdd
wu
] − [Sdb
wu
][Sbb ] [Sbd ].
328 Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333

Table 6 The critical buckling load parameter (cr ) for quadrilateral FG plate with mixed boundary conditions subjected to uni-axial
compression load (b/a = 0.8, c/a = 0.7, α = 70°, β = 75°)

h/a p (k̂w , k̂s ) − CCCS (k̂w , k̂s ) − CCSS

(0, 0) (102 , 10) (103 , 102 ) (0, 0) (102 , 10) (103 , 102 )

0.05 0 14.354 16.151 29.842 11.835 13.995 28.877

0.5 9.4040 11.177 24.450 7.7292 9.8641 23.805
1 7.2740 9.0260 22.058 5.9683 8.0795 21.550
5 4.7287 6.4241 18.982 3.8976 5.9291 18.699

0.1 0 11.512 13.165 26.105 10.099 12.093 25.653

0.5 7.6866 9.3290 21.938 6.6920 8.6635 21.651
1 5.9973 7.6264 19.998 5.2016 7.1462 19.798
5 3.7742 5.3430 17.021 3.3142 5.1288 16.961

0.2 0 6.5537 7.9909 18.915 6.3232 7.8557 18.903

0.5 4.5358 5.9721 16.640 4.3481 5.8782 16.635
1 3.5984 5.0286 15.518 3.4378 4.9565 15.514
5 2.1281 3.4884 13.354 2.0560 3.4662 13.353

Table 7 The critical buckling load parameter (cr ) for clamped and simply supported FG symmetric trapezoidal plate subjected to
bi-axial load (b/a = 0.5, c/a = 0.5, α = 60°, β = 60°)

Ryy h/a p (k̂w , k̂s ) − CCCC (k̂w , k̂s ) − SSSS

(0, 0) (102 , 10) (103 , 102 ) (0, 0) (102 , 10) (103 , 102 )

1 0.1 0 13.284 14.404 24.462 6.1339 7.2868 17.663

0.5 8.9841 10.104 20.153 4.0493 5.2022 15.579
1 7.0440 8.1635 18.205 3.1392 4.2921 14.668
5 4.3265 5.4458 15.454 2.0088 3.1617 13.538

0.2 0 6.3067 7.4254 17.358 4.1084 5.2613 15.638

0.5 4.4243 5.5426 15.429 2.7984 3.9513 14.328
1 3.5310 4.6491 14.495 2.2013 3.3542 13.730
5 2.0367 3.1526 12.820 1.3355 2.4884 12.683

2 0.1 0 7.6703 8.3060 13.946 3.5142 4.1741 10.101

0.5 5.1877 5.8238 11.437 2.3200 2.9799 8.9007
1 4.0673 4.7034 10.291 1.7986 2.4585 8.3719
5 2.4976 3.1312 8.5729 1.1509 1.8105 7.6696

0.2 0 3.6045 4.2122 9.2703 2.3514 3.0096 8.7994

0.5 2.5334 3.1430 8.1470 1.6019 2.2601 7.8856
1 2.0234 2.6331 7.5957 1.2602 1.9183 7.4151
5 1.1632 1.7566 6.5384 0.7643 1.4212 6.5206
Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333 329

Table 8 The critical buckling load parameter (cr ) for CCCS and CCSS FG symmetric trapezoidal plate subjected to bi-axial load
(b/a = 0.5, c/a = 0.5, α = 60°, β = 60°)

Ryy h/a p (k̂w , k̂s ) − CCCS (k̂w , k̂s ) − CCSS

(0, 0) (102 , 10) (103 , 102 ) (0, 0) (102 , 10) (103 , 102 )

1 0.1 0 12.515 13.634 23.669 9.4198 10.551 20.721

0.5 8.4619 9.5812 19.598 6.2999 7.4308 17.591
1 6.6346 7.7531 17.756 4.9136 6.0444 16.197
5 4.0779 5.1962 15.139 3.0758 4.2070 14.341

0.2 0 6.0073 7.1272 17.066 5.1887 6.3255 16.496

0.5 4.2084 5.3276 15.217 3.5963 4.7323 14.865
1 3.3569 4.4757 14.330 2.8530 3.9887 14.089
5 1.9413 3.0584 12.781 1.6800 2.8158 12.741

2 0.1 0 7.2228 7.8602 13.528 5.4665 6.1198 11.959

0.5 4.8809 5.5181 11.159 3.6562 4.3094 10.128
1 3.8255 4.4625 10.079 2.8518 3.5048 9.3051
5 2.3528 2.9884 8.4844 1.7848 2.4372 8.1383

0.2 0 3.4607 4.0846 9.2494 3.0051 3.6568 9.1466

0.5 2.4266 3.0508 8.1378 2.0834 2.7344 8.0937
1 1.9360 2.5598 7.5902 1.6530 2.3035 7.5745
5 1.1176 1.7289 6.5382 0.9729 1.6193 6.5382

Solving (31), the critical buckling load parameter is In addition, the non-dimensional elastic foundation
obtained. parameters are defined as,

kw a 4 ks a 2 Ec h3
k̂w = , k̂s = , Dc = .
4 Numerical results Dc Dc 12(1 − νc2 )

In this section, firstly, the convergence and accuracy
of the method is investigated through different ex-
amples of rectangular and skew isotropic plate (with
and without elastic foundations) and FG rectangular
plates. Then, the effects of the volume fraction in-
dex, geometrical and elastic foundation parameters on
the critical buckling load parameter of FG plate un-
der in-plane loads are presented. Otherwise specified,
the transverse shear correction factor is taken to be
κ = 5/(6 − ν), which is chosen from the work of
Efraim and Eisenberger [25], and also the following
material properties are used for the FG plates,
Metal (aluminum):
Em = 70 × 109 (N/m2 ), νm = 0.3,
Ceramic (alumina):
Ec = 380 × 109 (N/m2 ), νc = 0.3.
4.1 Convergence study and validation
As a first example to verify the correctness of the pre-
sented formulation and the method of solution, the ef-
fect of the thickness-to-length ratio on the convergence
and accuracy of the method is investigated by prepar-
ing the numerical results for clamped and simply sup-
ported isotropic square plate. The results are compared
with those of the Pb-Ritz method [22] in Table 1. The
fast rate of convergence of the solutions and their ex-
cellent agreement with those of the P -Ritz method is
evident.
In order to show the ability of the method for the
analysis of non-rectangular quadrilateral plates, in Ta-
ble 2 the convergence of the results for isotropic skew
plate is studied and is compared with those of the dif-
ferential cubature method (DCM) [11]. Again, the fast
rate of convergence and good agreement between the
330 Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333

results of the presented approach and the DCM [11]

are obvious.
To validate the presented formulation for the anal-
ysis of plates supported on elastic foundation, its fast
rate of convergence and accuracy for isotropic square
plate rested on elastic foundations is exhibited in Ta-
ble 3. The excellent agreement of the results with those
of the exact solution obtained by Lam et al. [23] using
Fig. 3 Geometry of skew plate
Green’s function can be seen.
To verify the applicability of the presented ap-
proach for the analysis of FG plates, the numerical
results for FG square plate are compared with those
available in the literature. The critical buckling load
parameter of simply supported FG square plate sub-
jected to uni-axial load is presented in the Table 4
for two different values of the thickness-to-length ra-
tio and different values of the volume fraction index
‘p’. In all cases, the fast rate of convergence of the ap-
proach and its good agreement with the results of the
Navier solution obtained by Matsunaga [17] is obvi-
ous.

4.2 Parametric studies

After demonstrating the convergence and accuracy of

the method, parametric studies to show the variation
of the critical buckling load parameter of FG quadri-
lateral plates made of Al/Al2 O3 subjected to different
set of boundary conditions are performed. The non-
dimensional critical buckling load parameter is de-
fined as,

N̂xx a 2 12ρc (1 − νc2 )

cr = .
π2 Ec h3
As a first example, the results for clamped and simply
supported FG skew plates (Fig. 3) under uni-axial load
(N̂xx = 0) are presented in Figs. 4 and 5. In Fig. 4, the
effects of the skew angle on the critical buckling load
parameter of FG skew plates and for different values of
the elastic foundation parameters are shown. Also, the Fig. 4 The critical buckling load parameter of the FG skew
effects of Winkler’s stiffness parameter on the critical plate subjected to uni-axial load (h/a = 0.1, b/a = 1, p = 1)
buckling load parameter of FG skew plate and for dif-
ferent values of the skew angle are presented in Fig. 5.
In all cases, the critical buckling load parameter in- To study the effect of the in-plane shear load pa-
creases when the skew angle increases. From these re- rameter Rxy (= N̂xy /N̂xx ) and normal load parameter
sults one can see that the skew angle, elastic founda- Ryy (= N̂yy /N̂xx ) on the buckling load capacity of the
tions parameters, the volume fraction index ‘p’ and plate, the variation of the critical buckling load param-
the boundary conditions have significant effects on the eter for the FG skew plate with clamped and simply
critical buckling load parameter of the FG skew plates. supported boundary conditions against the Rxy and
Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333
Fig. 5 The effects of Winkler’s stiffness parameter on the crit-
ical buckling load parameter of the FG skew plate subjected to
uni-axial load (h/a = 0.1, b/a = 1, p = 1, k̂s = 10)
for the different values of Ryy are shown in Fig. 6.
It can be seen that for each value of Ryy , there is an
optimum value for the in-plane shear load parame-
ter (Rxy ). Also, it is obvious that increasing the in-
plane normal load parameter (Ryy ), the critical buck-
ling load parameter of the plate decreases.
The effect of the thickness-to-length ratio of the
plate on the critical buckling load parameter of the
FG skew plate with different set of boundary condi-
tions is shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen that due to
normalized form of the critical buckling load param-
eter, it decreases monotonically when increasing the
thickness-to-length ratio. However, one should realize
331
Fig. 6 The effect of Rxy on the critical buckling load param-
eter of FG skew plate (h/a = 0.1, b/a = 1, θ = 45°, p = 1,
k̂w = 100, k̂s = 10)
that the critical buckling load (N̂xx ) increases by in-
creasing the thickness ratio.
In order to further study the effects of different pa-
rameters on the critical buckling load parameter of
FG non-rectangular plates, a quadrilateral plate and
also an FG symmetric trapezoidal plate are considered
here. The effects of the boundary conditions, thickness
ratio (h/a), elastic foundation parameters and volume
fraction index ‘p’ on the critical buckling load param-
eter of FG quadrilateral plates (Fig. 8) subjected to
uni-axial load are presented in Tables 5 and 6. Also,
the results for FG symmetric trapezoidal plates under
the action of bi-axial load are given in Tables 7, 8 and
Fig. 9. In Fig. 9, the effects of the in-plane load pa-
332 Meccanica (2012) 47:321–333

Fig. 7 The effects of the thickness-to-length ratio on the critical

buckling parameter of FG skew plate with different boundary
conditions (b/a = 1, p = 1, θ = 45°, k̂w = 100, k̂s = 10)

Fig. 8 Geometry of arbitrary straight-sided quadrilateral plate

rameter (Ryy ) on the critical buckling load parame-

ter of the FG symmetric trapezoidal plate and for dif-
ferent values of the volume fraction index are shown.
In all cases, the critical buckling load parameter de-
creases when the volume fraction index increases and Fig. 9 The critical buckling load parameter of FG symmet-
ric trapezoidal plate subjected to bi-axial load (h/a = 0.1,
also, increases when the elastic foundation parameters
b/a = c/a = 0.5, α = β = 60°, k̂w = 100, k̂s = 10)
increase. Also, it is obvious that increasing the con-
straint at the edges of the plates, the critical buckling
load parameter increases. and the boundary conditions have significant effects
on the critical buckling load parameter of the FG plate
with different geometrical shapes. Also, some new nu-
5 Conclusion
merical results were presented which can be used as
benchmark solution for future researches.
As a first endeavor, a solution procedure based on
the FSDT for the buckling analysis of FG arbi-
trary straight-sided quadrilateral plates rested on two-
parameter elastic foundations and subjected to in- References
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