Mechanical buckling and free vibration of thick functionally graded plates resting on elastic foundation using the higher order B-spline finite strip method

In this study, the mechanical buckling and free vibration of thick rectangular plates made of functionally graded materials (FGMs) resting on elastic foundation subjected to in-plane loading is considered. The third order shear deformation theory (TSDT) is employed to derive the governing equations. It is assumed that the material properties of FGM plates vary smoothly by distribution of power law across the plate thickness. The elastic foundation is modeled by the Winkler and two-parameter Pasternak type of elastic foundation. Based on the spline finite strip method, the fundamental equations for functionally graded plates are obtained by discretizing the plate into some finite strips. The results are achieved by the minimization of the total potential energy and solving the corresponding eigenvalue problem. The governing equations are solved for FGM plates buckling analysis and free vibration, separately. In addition, numerical results for FGM plates with different boundary conditions have been verified by comparing to the analytical solutions in the literature. Furthermore, the effects of different values of the foundation stiffness parameters on the response of the FGM plates are determined and discussed.