Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171

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Composite Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Mechanical and thermal buckling analysis of functionally graded plates

X. Zhao, Y.Y. Lee *, K.M. Liew
Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong Kong, Tatchee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The mechanical and thermal buckling analysis of functionally graded ceramic–metal plates is presented
Available online 13 March 2009 in this study. The first-order shear deformation plate theory, in conjunction with the element-free kp-Ritz
method, is employed in the current formulation. It is assumed that the material property of each plate
Keywords: varies exponentially through the thickness. The displacement field is approximated in terms of a set of
Functionally graded materials mesh-free kernel particle functions. The bending stiffness is evaluated using a stabilized conforming
Thermal and buckling analysis nodal integration technique, and the shear and membrane terms are computed using a direct nodal inte-
Functionally graded plates
gration method to eliminate the shear locking effects of very thin plates. The mechanical and thermal
Element-free Ritz method
buckling behaviour of functionally graded plates with arbitrary geometry, including plates that contain
square and circular holes at the centre, are investigated, as are the influence of the volume fraction
exponent, boundary conditions, hole geometry, and hole size on the buckling strengths of these plates.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction In addition to these static and dynamic analyses, the buckling

Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are made of advanced
composites in which the material properties vary continuously
and smoothly in a structure. FGMs, which are usually made of
metal and ceramic, possess two main properties: toughness and
a high degree of temperature-resistance. These special characteris-
tics make them preferable to conventional composite materials,
which are subject to delamination, for engineering applications.
Noda [1] carried out an extensive review of broad research topics
related to FGMs, including thermoelastic and thermoinelastic
problems, and corresponding parametric studies. Reddy and Chin
[2] developed a finite element formulation for the dynamic ther-
moelastic responses of functionally graded cylinders and plates
using the first-order shear deformation plate theory, and He et al.
[3] investigated the vibration control of functionally graded plates
(FGPs) mounted with integrated piezoelectric sensors and actua-
tors. Liew et al. [4] carried out static and dynamic piezothermo-
elastic analysis for the active control of FGPs bonded with
integrated piezoelectric sensors and actuators in thermal gradient
environments. Reddy [5] proposed a finite element model based on
the third-order deformation theory to investigate the static and dy-
namic responses of FGPs under mechanical and thermal loading,
and Efraim and Eisenberger [6] investigated the vibrations of thick
annular FGPs with variable thicknesses. Vel and Batra [7] reported
a three-dimensional exact solution for the vibration of functionally
graded rectangular plates.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +852 2788 9847; fax: +852 2788 7612.
E-mail address: bcraylee@cityu.edu.hk (Y.Y. Lee).
behaviour of FGPs has also attracted research interest. Feldman
and Aboudi [8] carried out elastic buckling analysis of FGPs sub-
jected to axial load and also investigated the optimal spatial distri-
bution of the volume fraction to improve buckling resistance.
Birman [9] provided buckling analysis of functionally graded hy-
brid composite plates, and Javaheri and Eslami [10] analyzed the
thermal buckling of FGPs based on higher order theory. Liew
et al. [11,12] performed postbuckling analysis of FGPs subjected
to thermo-electro-mechanical loading and also considered the
thermal postbuckling of these plates. Yang and Shen [13] examined
the nonlinear bending and postbuckling behaviour of FGPs sub-
jected to combined transverse and in-plane loads using a semi-
analytical approach, and Woo et al. [14] presented an analytical
solution for the postbuckling behaviour of moderately thick FGM
plates and shells under thermal and mechanical loading.
Recently, mesh-free methods have been widely applied to a
variety of engineering analyses due to their flexibility. Studies in-
clude thin shell analysis [15,16], the large deformation analysis
of nonlinear structures [17] and the static and vibration analysis
of FGMs [18–20]. In this paper, the buckling behaviour of FGPs un-
der mechanical and thermal loading is investigated using the ele-
ment-free kp-Ritz method [21–24]. The formulation is based on
the first-order shear deformation plate theory, and the material
properties of the FGPs are assumed to vary continuously and
smoothly through the thickness according to the power-law distri-
bution of the volume fraction of the constituents. In the thermal
buckling analysis of a FGP, the temperature is considered to vary
only through the thickness direction and to be constant over any
plane. A stabilized conforming nodal integration approach is em-
ployed to evaluate the plate bending stiffness, and the shear and

0263-8223/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2009.03.005
162 X. Zhao et al. / Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171

membrane terms are estimated using a direct nodal integration 0.5

method. When compared with Gauss integration, the proposed
0.4
integration scheme shows better computational efficiency without n = 10
shear locking for very thin plates. Moreover, this method is more 0.3
effective for dealing with plates with complex geometry, especially n=5
0.2
plates with cutouts. The buckling behaviour of a variety of FGPs, n=3
including solid plates and plates with holes, is discussed, and the 0.1
influence of the volume fraction exponent, hole size, and boundary
0.0

z/h
condition on the buckling strength of these plates is also examined. n=1
-0.1
n = 0.5
2. Functionally graded plates -0.2
n = 0.3
Fig. 1 shows a FGP that measures a  b  h. A coordinate system -0.3
n = 0.1
(x, y, z) is established on the middle plane of the plate, and the -0.4
material properties are assumed to vary through the thickness
according to the power law: -0.5
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
PðzÞ ¼ ðP c  Pm ÞV c þ Pm ; ð1aÞ Vc
 n
1 z
Vc ¼ þ ðn P 0Þ; ð1bÞ Fig. 2. Volume fraction versus thickness.
2 h
where P represents one of the effective material properties, such as uðx; y; zÞ ¼ u0 ðx; yÞ þ z/x ðx; yÞ;
Young’s modulus E, density q, Poisson’s ratio m, thermal conductiv- v ðx; y; zÞ ¼ v 0 ðx; yÞ þ z/y ðx; yÞ; ð3Þ
ity k, or thermal expansion a; the subscripts c and m represent the wðx; y; zÞ ¼ w0 ðx; yÞ;
ceramic and metal, respectively; Vc is the volume fraction of the
ceramic; and n is the volume fraction exponent. Fig. 2 illustrates where u0, v0, and w0 denote the displacements at the mid-plane of
the variation of the volume fraction through the thickness with dif- the plate along the x, y, and z directions, and /x and /y represent the
ferent volume fraction exponents. For temperature-dependent transverse normal rotations about the y and x axes, respectively.
materials, the corresponding properties are given by [25] The linear strain–displacement relationship is given by
8 9
P ¼ P0 ðP 1 T 1 þ 1 þ P1 T þ P2 T 2 þ P3 T 3 Þ; ð2Þ < exx >
> = 
cyz

eyy ¼ e0 þ zj; ¼ c0 ; ð4Þ
where P0, P1, P1, P2, and P3 are the temperature coefficients. The :c >
> ; cxz
xy
material properties are computed at standard room temperature
(T = 300K) unless otherwise specified. where
8 @u 9 8 @/x 9
>
>
0
>
> >
> @x >
> ( )
3. Theoretical formulation < @x = < @/ = /y þ @w 0
@v 0 y @y
e0 ¼ @y ; j¼ @y ; c0 ¼ : ð5Þ
> > > > /x þ @w
: @u0 þ @ v 0 >
> > @/y >
0

3.1. Energy functional ; : @/x ; @x

@y @x @y
þ @x

According to the first-order shear deformation plate theory [26], Thus, the constitutive relations are expressed as
8 9 2 308 9 8 9 1
the displacement field can be expressed as >
> rxx >
> Q 11 Q 12 0 0 0 >
> exx >
> >
> 1>>
>
> >
> 6 7B>> >
> >
> >
> C
> > 0 7B> > eyy > >1>
< ryy >
> = 6 Q 12
6
Q 11 0 0
7B< = >
> < > = C
C
rxy ¼ 6
60 0 Q 66 0 0 7 B C
7B> cxy >  > 0 >aDT C;
>
> >
> > > >> >
> r > 6 7B> >
cyz > > C
>
> yz >
> 40 0 0 Q 44 0 5@> > > >0>
> > A
> > > ; >
> : > ;
b :
rxz ; 0 0 0 0 Q 55
:
cxz 0
ð6Þ
where
E
Q 11 ¼ ; Q 12 ¼ mQ 11 ; Q 22 ¼ Q 11 ;
1  m2
E
Q 44 ¼ Q 55 ¼ Q 66 ¼ ; ð7Þ
2ð1  mÞ
and DT is the temperature change from a stress-free state (T = 0 °C).
a Note that the effective properties of the plate vary along the thick-
ness direction according to Eq. (1), and thus elastic coefficient Qij is
a function of z. The total in-plane force resultants, total moment
resultants, and transverse force resultants are given by
8 9 8 9
h/2 < N xx >
> < rxx >
= Z h=2 > =
N ¼ Nyy ¼ ryy dz;
>
: >
; h=2 >
: >
h/2 Nxy rxy ;
8 9 8 9
< M xx >
> = Z h=2 >< rxx >
=
M ¼ M yy ¼ ryy zdz; and ð8a;bÞ
>
: >
; >
h=2 : >
Fig. 1. Functionally graded plate.
M xy rxy ;
 X. Zhao et al. / Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171 163

  Z  
Qy h=2
ryz X
NP
Qs ¼ ¼ dz: ð9Þ uh ¼ wI ðxÞuI ; ð20Þ
Qx h=2 rxz I¼1

In matrix form, the relation between the stress resultants and the where wI(x) and uI are the shape function and the nodal value. The
strains can be written as subscript I represents the node number. A two-dimensional shape
  " #  ( ) function is defined as
N A B e0 NT
¼  ; Q s ¼ As c0 ; ð10a;bÞ
M B D j MT wI ðxÞ ¼ CðxÞUa ðx  xI Þ; ð21Þ
where Ua(x  xI) is termed the kernel function and C(x) is termed
where
the correction function and used to satisfy reproducing condition
Z h=2
X
NP
NT ¼ ½1 1 0T ðQ 11 þ Q 12 ÞaDTdz; ð11aÞ wI ðxÞxm n m n
h=2 I yI ¼ x y for m þ n ¼ 0; 1; 2: ð22Þ
Z h=2
I¼1

MT ¼ ½1 1 0T ðQ 11 þ Q 12 ÞaDTzdz; ð11bÞ Correction function C(x) is expressed as a combination of complete

h=2
second-order monomial functions
2 3 2 3
A11 A12 A16 B11 B12 B16 CðxÞ ¼ HT ðx  xI ÞbðxÞ; ð23Þ
6 7 6 7
A ¼ 4 A12 A22 A26 5; B ¼ 4 B12 B22 B26 5; ð12a;bÞ
A16 A26 A66 B16 B26 B66 bðxÞ ¼ ½b0 ðx; yÞ; b1 ðx; yÞ; b2 ðx; yÞ; b3 ðx; yÞ; b4 ðx; yÞ; b5 ðx; yÞT ; and

2 3 ð24aÞ
D11 D12 D16  
6 7 A44 A45
D ¼ 4 D12 D22 D26 5; As ¼ ; ð13c;dÞ HT ðx  xI Þ ¼ ½1; x  xI ; y  yI ; ðx  xI Þðy  yI Þ; ðx  xI Þ2 ; ðy  yI Þ2 ;
A45 A55
D16 D26 D66 ð24bÞ
where H is a vector of quadratic basis and b(x) is a coefficient vector
and NT and MT represent the thermal force and moment resultant,
to be determined. The shape function can now be written as
respectively. Aij, Bij, Dij, and Asij are given by
Z Z T
h=2 h=2 wI ðxÞ ¼ b ðxÞHðx  xI ÞUa ðx  xI Þ: ð25Þ
ðAij ; Bij ; Dij Þ ¼ 2
Q ij ð1; z; z Þdz; Asij ¼K Q ij dz; ð14a;bÞ
h=2 h=2 The coefficient b(x) can be solved by substituting Eq. (25) into Eq.
(22), as follows:
where Aij, Bij, and Dij are defined for i, j = 1, 2, 6, and is defined for Asij
i, j = 4, 5. K denotes the transverse shear correction coefficient and is bðxÞ ¼ M1 ðxÞHð0Þ; ð26Þ
given by [6]
where M is termed a moment matrix and H(0) is a constant vector.
5 The expressions for M and H(0) are given by
K¼ ; ð15Þ
6  ðv 1 V 1 þ v 2 V 2 Þ
X
NP

where V1 and V2 represent the volume fractions of two different MðxÞ ¼ Hðx  xI ÞHT ðx  xI ÞUa ðx  xI Þ and ð27aÞ
I¼1
components, and m1 and m2 are the Poisson ratios of the two
constituents. Hð0Þ ¼ ½1; 0; 0; 0; 0; 0T : ð27bÞ
The strain energy of the plate is expressed as
The kernel function Ua(x  xI) is defined as
Z
1 ~T
Ue ¼ N edX; ð16Þ Ua ðx  xI Þ ¼ Ua ðxÞ  Ua ðyÞ; ð28Þ
2 X
in which
~ and e are defined as
where N x  x
I
8 9 8 9 Ua ðxÞ ¼ u ; ð29Þ
<N >
> = < e0 >
> = a
~¼ M ;
N e¼ j : ð17a;bÞ where u(x) is a weight function and given by
>
: >
; : >
> ; 8 9
Qs c0 2 2 3
0 6 jzI j 6 12 >
< 3  4zI þ 4zI
> for =
The potential energy due to in-plane loading is given by uz ðzI Þ ¼ 3  4zI þ 4zI  43 z3I
4 2
for 1
< jzI j 6 1 ; ð30Þ
>
:
2 >
;
Z   " # 0 otherwise
@w @w Nx Nxy @w
@x
Wg ¼ @w dX: ð18Þ where zI ¼ ðxx IÞ
; dI is the size of the support and given by
X @x @y Nxy Ny @y
dI

dI ¼ dmax cI ; ð31Þ
The total potential energy functional for the plate can therefore be
expressed as where dmax is a scaling factor, and the distance cI is chosen so that
there are sufficient nodes to avoid any singularity in matrix M.
Ps ¼ U e  W g : ð19Þ
Finally, the shape function is written as

wI ðxÞ ¼ HT ð0ÞM1 ðxÞHðx  xI ÞUa ðx  xI Þ: ð32Þ

3.2. Two-dimensional kernel particle shape functions

In this section, based on the kernel particle concept [17,27], the
shape functions are developed and briefly introduced. Consider a
domain X that is discretized by a set of scattered nodes xI,
I = 1, . . . , NP, and the approximation of the function u(x) is denoted
by uh and expressed in the discrete form
As the shape function wI(x) possesses no Kronecker delta properties,
the boundary conditions cannot be directly imposed. Several meth-
ods, such as the transformation method [17] Lagrange multipliers
[28], and the penalty method, can be used to enforce the essential
boundary conditions.
164 X. Zhao et al. / Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171

3.3. Nodal integration atives of the shape functions are required in this integration. As
two-dimensional domain integration can be simply transferred to
Similar to finite element methods, mesh-free methods require one-dimensional line integration, the computational cost is signifi-
an integration procedure to evaluate the stiffness matrix. The sta- cantly reduced.
bilized conforming (SC) nodal integration method [29] is employed
instead of Gauss integration to compute the stiffness matrix. This is 3.4. Discrete system equations
because the latter leads to higher computational cost and may in-
duce errors, especially for cases in which there are significant dis- The approximations for the displacements and rotations of the
parities between the quadrature cells and the shape function middle plane of a plate are expressed as
supports. The efficiency and accuracy of the SC integration scheme 0 1 0 1
uh0 uI
for solving solid mechanics problems has been demonstrated [29– B hC
B v0 C B C
32]. A brief review of this integration method is given here. B C XNP B vI C X NP
B h C B C
Consider a domain X that is discretized by a set of nodes. The uh0 ¼ B w0 C ¼ wI B
B wI CC ¼ wI ðxÞuI : ð38Þ
representative domain of node xL is denoted by XL, which can be
B h C I¼1 B C
B/ C @ /xI A I¼1
@ x A
generated from the Voronoi diagram or Delaunay triangulation
/hy /yI
shown in Fig. 3. The strain smoothing at node xL is defined as
Z
1 Substituting Eq. (38) into Eq. (19) and performing the Ritz minimi-
~eij ðxL Þ ¼ eij ðxÞdX; ð33Þ
AL zation procedure yields the eigenvalue equations of plate buckling,
X
as follows:
where eij is the strain and AL is the area of the representative domain
XL. According to the divergence theorem, this strain smoothing can ðK þ kKg Þu ¼ 0; ð39Þ
be expressed as where K and Kg represent the linear stiffness matrix and geometric
Z stiffness matrix, respectively, and k is the critical buckling load. The
1
~eij ðxL Þ ¼ ðuhi nj þ uhj ni Þd C; ð34Þ matrix expressions of K and Kg are given by
2AL CL

where CL is the boundary of the representative domain of node xL K ¼ Kb þ Km þ Ksh ; ð40Þ

and n is the outward normal (Fig. 3). For a two-dimensional T
u ¼ ½u1 u2    un  ; ð41Þ
problem, Z
T
X KbIJ ¼ BbI DBbJ dX; ð42Þ
~eh ðxL Þ ¼ ~ I ðxL ÞuI ;
B ð35Þ ZX Z Z
I2SL T T T
m m
2 3 KIJ ¼ Bm I ABJ dX þ Bm b
I BBJ dX þ BbI BBm
J dX; ð43Þ
~I1 ðxL Þ
b 0
6 7 ZX X X
T
~ I ðxL Þ ¼ 6
B ~I2 ðxL Þ 7; and ð36Þ Ksh BsI As BsJ dX; and
4 0 b 5 IJ ¼ ð44Þ
X
b~I2 ðxL Þ b
~I1 ðxL Þ Z
Z KgIJ ¼ GI T NGJ dX: ð45Þ
~ ðx Þ ¼ 1
b w ðxL Þni ðxL ÞdC ði ¼ 1; 2Þ ð37Þ X
Ii L
AL CL I
The stiffness matrix in Eq. (42) is evaluated using the stabilized no-
where SL represents a group of nodes whose shape function sup- dal integration technique, and Eqs. (43)–(45) are computed via di-
ports cover node L. An evaluation of Eq. (37) can be carried out rect nodal integration. The approximations for the terms in Eqs.
using Gauss integration or the trapezoidal rule. Note that no deriv- (43)–(45) are given as follows:
X
NP
KbIJ ¼ ~ bT ðxL ÞDB
B ~ b ðxL ÞAL ; ð46Þ
I J
5 L¼1
NP h
X i
T m mT bT
Km
IJ ¼ Bm b m
I ðxL ÞABJ ðxL Þ þ BI ðxL ÞBBJ ðxL Þ þ BI ðxL ÞBBJ ðxL Þ AL ;
4
L¼1

ð47Þ
3
X
NP
T
Ksh
IJ ¼ BsI ðxL ÞAs BsJ ðxL ÞAL ; and ð48Þ
2
L¼1
X
NP
1 KgIJ ¼ GI T ðxL ÞNGJ ðxL ÞAL ; ð49Þ
L¼1
0
ΓL where xL and AL are the node coordinate and nodal representative
~ b ðxL Þ; Bb ðxL Þ; Bm ðxL Þ; Bs ðxL Þ; N, and G are
area, respectively. Here, B I I I I
-1
n given by
L 2 3
-2 0 0 0 ~Ix ðxL Þ
b 0
ΩL 6 7
~ b ðxL Þ ¼ 6 0 0 0
B ~Iy ðxL Þ 7;
b 0 ð50Þ
-3
I 4 5
~Iy ðxL Þ b
0 0 0 b ~Ix ðxL Þ
2 3
-4 I ðxL Þ
0 0 0 @w@x 0
6 @wI ðxL Þ 7
BbI ðxL Þ ¼ 6
40 0 0 0 @y 5;
7 ð51Þ
-5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 I ðxL Þ @wI ðxL Þ
0 0 0 @w@y @x
Fig. 3. Nodal representative domain obtained from Voronoi diagram.
 X. Zhao et al. / Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171 165

Z Z
~Ix ðxL Þ ¼ 1
b wI ðxÞnx ðxÞdC; ~Iy ðxL Þ ¼ 1
b wI ðxÞny ðxÞdC;
Table 2
AL AL Buckling coefficient for a simply-supported isotropic square plate under uniaxial
CL CL
compressive pressure (h = 0.1 in., a = b = 10 in., E = 3.0  106 psi, m = 0.316).
ð52a; bÞ
Mode Present Analytical [33]
2 @wI ðxL Þ 3 12  12 14  14 16  16 18  18
@x
0 0 0 0
6 @wI ðxL Þ 7 1 39.4891 39.3462 39.2387 39.2040 39.4761
Bm 6 0 0 0 07
I ðxL Þ ¼ 4 @y 5; ð53Þ
2 59.6310 59.9668 60.1913 60.3722 61.6814
@wI ðxL Þ @wI ðxL Þ 3 100.310 103.006 103.887 103.963 109.656
@y @x
0 0 0
" # 4 147.678 149.481 150.572 151.987 157.904
@wI ðxL Þ
0 0 wI ðxL Þ 0
BsI ðxL Þ
@x
¼ @wI ðxL Þ
; ð54Þ
0 0 @y
0 wI ðxL Þ the convergent solution. Table 3 presents the solutions of buckling
" @wI ðxL Þ
# coefficient kf = kh/ks obtained from the proposed method, as well as
0 0 0 0
G¼
@x
; and ð55Þ those produced from the analytical [34,35] and finite element
@wI ðxL Þ
0 0 @y
0 0 methods [36,37] reported in the literature [38]. It can be seen that
" # the proposed solution agrees well with the analytical solutions
N xx Nxy
N¼ : ð56Þ presented by Ritche and Rhodes [34] for all of the different hole
N xy Nyy sizes and that it is also close to the finite element results for hole
sizes ranging from 0 to 0.4. For a plate with a hole size of 0.6,
the proposed solution is slightly smaller than that produced by
4. Numerical results and discussion
the finite element method. Finally, the thermal buckling of a sim-
ply supported square isotropic plate that is subject to a uniform
In this section, several numerical examples of the buckling
temperature rise is investigated. Three thickness ratios, a/
behaviour of FGPs under mechanical and thermal loading are pre-
h = 10,20,100, are considered. The material properties are Young’s
sented. All of the plates considered here are subjected to uniaxial
modulus E = 1.0  106 N/m2, Poisson ratio v = 0.3, and thermal
compressive pressure or uniform temperature load. Two types of
expansion coefficient a = 1.0  106/K. Table 4 presents the con-
FGPs that consist of aluminium and zirconia, aluminium, and alu-
vergence characteristics of the proposed solution at minimum crit-
mina are considered. The properties of each constituent, including
ical temperature aT, as well as the corresponding results given by
the Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, thermal expansion coeffi-
Noor and Burton [39] and Matsunaga [40]. Good agreement is ob-
cient, and conductivity are given in Table 1. Unless otherwise spec-
tained between the results of the method presented here and those
ified, the properties of the constituents are given at room
from the references.
temperature: T = 300K. The kernel particle function is employed
to construct the shape functions for the two-dimensional displace-
ment approximations. A scaling factor of 3.2 is used to represent 4.2. FGM plates
the size of the support, and the stiffness matrices are evaluated
using the nodal integration method. The transformation method In this section, the buckling responses of FGM plates under uni-
is adopted to impose the essential boundary conditions. axial compressive pressure are investigated. These plates consist of
aluminium (Al) and zirconia (ZrO2), the properties of which are
4.1. Isotropic plate listed in Table 1. The length and thickness of these plates are
a = b = 0.2 m and h = 0.01 m. A nodal distribution of 21  21 is
In the verification of the buckling solutions obtained from the used. Table 5 shows buckling load parameter N cr ¼ N cr a2 =D0 for a
proposed method, a simply supported isotropic plate under simply supported square Al/ZrO2 plate under uniaxial compres-
uniaxial compressive pressure is first considered. This square plate sion. The volume fraction exponent n ranges from 0 to 5, and the
measures 10 in.  10 in.  0.2 in. (a  b  h), and its material prop- values of the buckling load parameter for the first four modes are
erties are Young’s modulus E = 3.0  106psi and Poisson ratio computed. The corresponding mode shapes are plotted in Fig. 4.
v = 0.3. The number of nodes used ranges from 12  12 to It can be seen that the buckling load parameter decreases when
18  18, and the buckling coefficient N cr ¼ N cr a2 =D0 (D0 = Eh3/ the volume fraction exponent increases. This is because the plate
12(1  m2)) for the first four modes is given in Table 2. For compar- stiffness becomes weak with a rise in this exponent. A similar
ison purposes, the analytical solution given by Timoshenko and observation can also be discerned from Table 6, which presents
Geer [33] is also provided. It can be seen that good agreement be- the buckling load parameter for a clamped Al/ZrO2 plate. The cor-
tween the two solutions can be reached for all modes. The buckling responding buckling mode shapes are depicted in Figs. 5 and 6. It
strength of a simply supported isotropic plate with circular holes at can be seen that the buckling mode shapes of the simply supported
the centre is also investigated. The geometric properties of this plate are similar to those of the clamped plate.
plate are length = width = a = b = 1 m and thickness=h = 0.001 m. Table 7 reveals the variation of buckling load parameter N cr
Its material properties are Young’s modulus E = 7.06  1011 N/m2 with the volume fraction exponent for a simply supported rectan-
and Poisson ratio v = 0.3. The hole radius to length ratio 2r/a gular plate. The length to width ratio is a/b = 2, and the thickness is
changes from 0 to 0.6. A total of 22  22 nodes are used to attain h = 0.01 m. It can be seen that the variation of the buckling load in
Table 7 is similar to that in Table 5, although the buckling load va-
lue is much larger. The corresponding mode shapes, however, are
Table 1 different from those for the square plate shown in Fig. 4. This dem-
Properties of the FGM components. onstrates that the aspect ratio has a significant influence on buck-
ling behaviour. Table 8 shows the buckling characteristics for a
Material Properties
clamped plate, and the corresponding mode shapes are illustrated
E (N/m2) m a (/°C) j (W/Mk) in Fig. 7. It can be seen that the buckling mode shapes of this plate
Aluminium (Al) 70.0  109 0.30 23.0  106 204 are different from those of the simply supported pate. Thus, it is
Zirconia (ZrO2) 151  109 0.30 10.0  106 2.09
concluded that both the aspect ratio and the boundary conditions
Alumina 380  109 0.30 7.4  106 10.4
can significantly influence the buckling behaviour of a FGM plate.
166 X. Zhao et al. / Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171

Table 3
Buckling coefficient kf = kh/ks of the simply supported isotropic plate with a circular hole (a = b = 1 m, h = 0.001 m, E = 7.06  1011/m2, m = 0.3).

2 r/a Present Analytical FEM

Ritche and Rhodes [34] Kawai and Ohtsubo [35] Robot [36] Czmochowski [37]
0.0 0.993 1.00 1.00 0.998 0.90
0.2 0.919 0.92 0.95 0.892 0.82
0.4 0.758 0.76 0.84 0.770 0.76
0.6 0.669 0.64 0.77 0.711 0.74

Table 4
Minimum critical temperature parameter aT of the simply supported isotropic plate (a/b = 1, a0 = 1.0  10 6
/K, E = 1.0  106 N/m2, m = 0.3).

a/h Present Noor and Burton [39] Matsunaga [40]

16  16 18  18 20  20

10 0.1181  101 0.1182  101 0.1183  101 0.1183  101 0.1183  101
20 0.3.82  102 0.3085  102 0.3089  102 0.3109  102 0.3109  102
100 0.1284  103 0.1273  103 0.1271  103 0.1264  103 0.1264  103

Table 5 Table 6
Buckling load parameter N cr ¼ N cr a2 =D0 of the simply supported square Al/ZrO2 plate Buckling load parameter N cr ¼ N cr a2 =D0 of a clamped square Al/ZrO2 plate under
under uniaxial compression (a = b = 0.2 m, h = 0.01 m). uniaxial compression (a = b = 0.2 m,h = 0.01 m).

Mode N cr Mode N cr
n=0 n = 0.2 n = 0.5 n=1 n=2 n=5 n=0 n = 0.2 n = 0.5 n=1 n=2 n=5
1 82.827 73.321 64.814 57.901 53.022 49.173 1 195.913 173.588 153.559 137.203 125.498 116.055
2 125.989 111.579 98.652 88.105 80.606 74.670 2 219.879 194.922 172.489 154.108 140.855 130.079
3 213.385 189.108 167.217 149.201 136.214 126.061 3 349.552 310.141 274.576 245.238 223.813 206.227
4 309.849 274.502 242.494 215.495 192.971 182.606 4 442.115 392.311 347.296 310.104 282.900 260.581

The thermal buckling of a square aluminium/alumina plate sub-
jected to a uniform temperature rise is also investigated. Both sim-
ply supported and clamped boundary conditions are considered
here. Plate thickness ratios of a/h = 50,100 are adopted, and the
volume fraction exponent ranges from 0 to 5. The solution is ob-
tained using 21  21 nodes. The variation of the critical buckling
temperature rise DTcr with the volume fraction exponent is illus-
trated in Table 9. It can seen that, in both the simply supported
and clamped cases, the critical buckling temperature rise initially
decreases for a volume fraction exponent n ranging from 0 to 2;
when n escalates further to 5, however, only a small temperature
change is observed. It is thus concluded that a plate with a large
thickness ratio undergoes a large critical buckling temperature rise
and that the buckling temperature rise of a clamped plate is much
greater than that of a simply supported plate.
4.3. FGM plates with holes
The buckling responses of FGM plates with a circular or square
hole, as shown in Fig. 8, are investigated in this section. The buck-
ling of an isotropic plate with a hole is usually considered using
analytical or finite element methods. Theoretical analysis methods,

0 0.05

-0.05 0

-0.1 -0.05
0.1 0.1
0.2 0.2
0 0.1 0 0.1
-0.1 0 -0.1 0

0.05 0.05

0 0

-0.05 -0.05
0.1 0.1
0.2 0.2
0 0.1 0 0.1
-0.1 0 -0.1 0

Fig. 4. Buckling mode shapes of the simply supported square Al/ZrO2 plate.
 X. Zhao et al. / Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171 167

0.1 0.05

0 0

-0.1 -0.05
0.1 0.1
0.2 0.2
0 0.1 0 0.1
-0.1 0 -0.1 0

0.05 0.05

0 0

-0.05 -0.05
0.1 0.1
0.2 0.2
0 0.1 0 0.1
-0.1 0 -0.1 0

Fig. 5. Buckling mode shapes of the clamped square Al/ZrO2 plate.

0.05 0.05

0 0

-0.05 -0.05
0.05 0.05
0.2 0.2
0 0.1 0 0.1
-0.05 0 -0.05 0

0.02 0

0 -0.02

-0.02 -0.04
0.05 0.05
0.2 0.2
0 0.1 0 0.1
-0.05 0 -0.05 0

Fig. 6. Buckling mode shapes of the simply supported rectangular Al/ZrO2 plate.

Table 7 Table 8
Buckling load parameter N cr ¼ N cr a2 =D0 of a simply supported rectangular Al/ZrO2 Buckling load parameter N cr ¼ N cr a2 =D0 of a clamped rectangular Al/ZrO2 plate under
plate under uniaxial compression (a/b = 2, h = 0.01 m). uniaxial compression (a/b = 2, h = 0.01 m).

Mode N cr Mode N cr
n=0 n = 0.2 n = 0.5 n=1 n=2 n=5 n=0 n = 0.2 n = 0.5 n=1 n=2 n=5
1 313.647 277.953 245.809 220.105 200.826 185.641 1 530.124 471.002 417.356 372.671 339.379 311.534
2 352.578 312.679 276.698 247.214 225.603 208.157 2 543.326 482.776 427.781 381.920 347.709 319.109
3 442.457 392.741 347.711 310.497 283.026 260.503 3 665.423 591.590 524.376 468.102 425.793 390.183
4 500.849 443.673 392.070 350.204 320.533 296.606 4 688.574 612.591 543.072 484.487 440.425 402.552

however, are unable to handle cases of complex boundary condi-
tions and large hole sizes. This is because the stress distributions
of infinite perforated plates are used as the prebuckling stress solu-
tions for finite perforated plates. In this study, the proposed kp-Ritz
mesh-free method is used, as it is more powerful in handling finite
plates of any geometry and hole size.
The buckling behaviour of a simply supported square Al/ZrO2
plate with a circular hole at the centre is first considered. The geo-
metric properties of this plate are aspect ratio a/b = 1 and thickness
ratio a/h = 100. The circular hole size 2r/avaries from 0.1 to 0.6, and
the volume fraction exponent chosen is n = 0, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10.
Table 10 shows the buckling load parameter N ^ cr ¼ N cr a2 =p2 D0 of
168 X. Zhao et al. / Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171

0.05 0.05

0 0

-0.05 -0.05
0.05 0.05
0.2 0.2
0 0.1 0 0.1
-0.05 0 -0.05 0

0.05 0.02

0 0

-0.05 -0.02
0.05 0.05
0.2 0.2
0 0.1 0 0.1
-0.05 0 -0.05 0

Fig. 7. Buckling mode shapes of the clamped rectangular Al/ZrO2 plate.

Table 9 9
Critical buckling temperature rise for square aluminium/alumina plates (a/b = 1).
n=0
Boundary condition a/h DTcr 8 n = 0.2
n = 0.5
n=0 n = 0.5 n=1 n=2 n=5
n=1
Buckling coefficient

SSSS 50 67.915 38.278 31.185 29.653 29.608 7 n=2

100 17.361 9.805 7.944 6.925 7.423 n=5
CCCC 50 175.817 99.162 82.357 71.013 74.591 6 n = 10
100 44.171 24.899 20.771 18.489 19.150

the simply supported square Al/ZrO2 plate with a circular hole un- 4
der uniaxial compression. A nodal distribution of 23  23 is used,
and the buckling load for the first four modes is provided. It can
3
be seen that, for a certain hole size, the buckling load decreases
when the volume fraction exponent ascends; for a certain volume
2
fraction exponent, the critical buckling load for mode 1 falls when 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
the hole size rises. This trend can be clearly seen in Fig. 9. For the Hole size
second to the fourth modes, however, the buckling load shows no
uniform change. The variation of the buckling load parameter N ^ cr of Fig. 9. Buckling coefficient with hole size (simply supported square Al/ZrO2 plate,
circular hole, uniaxial compression).
the clamped square Al/ZrO2 plate with a circular hole under uniax-
ial compression is shown in Table 11. It can be seen that, for a cer-
tain hole size, the buckling load drops when the volume fraction critical buckling load for the first mode initially declines with a
exponent increases; for a certain volume fraction exponent, the broadening hole size; and when the hole size increases further,

Fig. 8. Two square Al/ZrO2 plates with a square/circular hole.

 X. Zhao et al. / Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171 169

Table 10
^ cr ¼ N cr a2 =p2 D0 of the simply supported square Al/ZrO2 plate with a circular hole under uniaxial compression (a/b = 1, a/h = 100).
Buckling load parameter N

Hole size 2r/a Mode ^ cr

N
n=0 n = 0.2 n = 0.5 n=1 n=2 n=5 n = 10
0.1 1 8.0873 7.1895 6.4749 5.5973 5.1270 4.6325 4.5963
2 13.2583 11.5995 10.8585 9.8259 7.1952 4.8229 7.0933
3 18.9230 19.4422 17.0456 12.9703 8.9218 7.5683 11.6476
4 32.1658 27.1443 26.7493 23.4755 13.2478 13.3838 13.2156
0.2 1 6.9711 6.1617 5.4112 4.6858 4.0808 4.0609 3.8709
2 14.5847 12.8902 11.3224 9.8610 8.8054 8.5160 8.1032
3 19.7749 17.4054 15.0063 10.8332 9.4942 10.8944 10.7886
4 32.7135 28.9285 25.4593 14.4103 14.7323 19.1022 18.1890
0.4 1 5.2611 4.6564 4.1152 3.6761 3.3672 3.1238 2.9366
2 14.1991 12.5647 11.0995 9.9093 9.0743 8.4249 7.9241
3 23.8348 21.0907 18.6336 16.6394 15.2406 14.1504 13.3073
4 23.9770 21.2123 18.7308 16.7140 15.3042 14.2206 13.3813
0.6 1 4.6812 4.1439 3.6632 3.2730 2.9976 2.7792 2.6120
2 8.9158 7.8904 6.9716 6.2256 5.7016 5.2908 4.9751
3 18.2511 16.1495 14.2649 12.7349 11.6622 10.8276 10.1845
4 27.4243 24.2656 21.4285 19.1216 17.5051 16.2568 15.2963

ling mode is dependent on the hole size and boundary conditions.

24 Tables 12 and 13 show the buckling load parameters of clamped
n=0 n=1 and simply supported square Al/ZrO2 plates with square holes.
22 n = 0.2 n=2
The corresponding variations of the minimum buckling load (first
n = 0.5 n=5
20 n = 10
mode) are depicted in Figs. 11 and 12, respectively. The volume
fraction exponent varies from 0 to 5, and the width of the square
Buckling coefficient

18 hole size a0/a ranges from 0.1 to 0.6. Observations similar to those
in Tables 9 and 10 and Figs. 9 and 10 are attained.
16

14 5. Conclusions

12 The buckling behaviour of functionally graded plates under uni-

axial mechanical and thermal loading are investigated using the
10
element-free kp-Ritz method. The effective material properties
8 are computed using the power law equation of the volume fraction
of the plate constituents. The formulation is based on the first-or-
6 der shear deformation plate theory, and the displacement fields are
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
expressed in terms of the mesh-free kernel particle shape func-
Hole size tions. The stabilized conforming nodal integration method is used
Fig. 10. Buckling coefficient with hole size (clamped square Al/ZrO2 plate, circular to evaluate the bending stiffness, and the membrane and shear
hole, uniaxial compression). stiffness are calculated using the direct nodal integration approach
to avoid shear locking. The buckling responses of solid plates and
the buckling load begins to escalate again. This trend can be dis- plates with holes under uniaxial and thermal loading are investi-
cerned in Fig. 10. The reason for these phenomena is that the buck- gated. Finally, it is concluded that the volume fraction exponent

Table 11
^ cr ¼ N cr a2 =p2 D0 of the clamped square Al/ZrO2 plate with a circular hole under uniaxial compression (a/b = 1, a/h = 100).
Buckling load parameter N

Hole size 2r/a Mode ^ cr

N
n=0 n = 0.2 n = 0.5 n=1 n=2 n=5 n = 10
0.1 1 18.3518 15.9115 14.3866 14.2659 11.4694 10.1226 10.0794
2 24.5311 21.3349 16.6857 18.3632 16.5966 15.9330 15.3364
3 35.7579 29.5475 24.2759 24.2618 22.4022 19.5702 19.0456
4 46.9709 40.4260 28.0422 30.1556 30.4962 29.1208 20.4970
0.2 1 15.1882 13.3663 11.5212 9.2438 7.3533 8.3753 8.2917
2 27.8024 24.5507 21.4811 17.0835 16.0139 16.0546 15.4069
3 35.6688 31.4017 27.0854 18.6818 17.1758 19.5807 19.4517
4 43.3816 38.2114 32.8834 23.6005 20.7677 23.0624 23.6562
0.4 1 15.5582 13.7665 12.1661 10.8710 9.9633 9.2479 8.6932
2 24.0461 21.2751 18.7919 16.7772 15.3672 14.2714 13.4238
3 32.6971 28.9279 25.5451 22.7962 20.8735 19.3923 18.2466
4 41.0906 36.3519 32.0973 28.6391 26.2217 24.3654 22.9295
0.6 1 21.3413 18.8841 16.6881 14.9102 13.6638 12.6826 11.9225
2 22.2647 19.7011 17.4080 15.505 14.2483 13.2257 12.4347
3 38.4242 33.9925 30.0132 26.7808 24.5218 22.7831 21.4398
4 39.2706 34.7404 30.6679 27.3572 25.0444 23.2716 21.9042
170 X. Zhao et al. / Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171

Table 12
^ cr ¼ N cr a2 =p2 D0 of the clamped square Al/ZrO2 plate with a square hole under uniaxial compression (a/b = 1, a/h = 100).
Buckling load parameter N

Hole size a0/a Mode ^ cr

N
n=0 n = 0.5 n=1 n=2 n=5
0.1 1 17.3798 13.1274 10.8931 4.1186 1.6860
2 24.9947 17.8204 20.9675 9.2877 9.6489
3 33.6721 18.3552 21.5537 16.7151 18.7528
4 42.5928 25.4187 22.6978 18.3053 20.6413
0.2 1 15.2566 11.8608 10.4858 9.5211 8.9606
2 28.1513 21.9677 19.5745 17.9066 16.6647
3 38.8975 30.2495 26.7438 24.2635 22.8502
4 43.6826 33.9191 30.0124 27.3140 25.5747
0.4 1 15.3135 11.9734 10.6974 9.8032 9.0993
2 18.2757 14.2801 12.7483 11.6767 10.8439
3 38.4305 30.0333 26.8157 24.5636 22.8084
4 39.6332 30.9513 27.6154 25.2866 23.4952
0.6 1 19.3464 15.1311 13.5194 12.3876 11.4939
2 19.3772 15.1557 13.5421 12.4088 11.5131
3 38.8656 30.3636 27.0942 24.8057 23.0366
4 39.5031 30.8589 27.5328 25.2049 23.4088

Table 13
^ cr ¼ N cr a2 =p2 D0 of the simply supported square Al/ZrO2 plate with a square hole under uniaxial compression (a/b = 1, a/h = 100).
Buckling load parameter N

Hole size a0/a Mode ^ cr

N
n=0 n = 0.5 n=1 n=2 n=5
0.1 1 8.0186 6.2410 5.5031 4.9665 4.7236
2 13.7295 10.3154 10.5992 9.3471 11.0894
3 20.2125 15.2465 12.7330 10.9626 11.6224
4 33.2177 17.9340 21.8584 16.8478 19.2263
0.2 1 6.6873 5.2212 4.6465 4.2415 3.9557
2 14.8569 11.6097 10.3603 9.4845 8.8103
3 20.8858 16.2534 14.3941 13.0868 12.2846
4 32.5803 25.4849 22.7645 20.8498 19.3451
0.4 1 4.7551 3.7341 3.3344 3.0533 2.8329
2 11.0719 8.6500 7.7186 7.0664 6.5629
3 24.1890 18.8998 16.8712 15.4523 14.3511
4 26.8087 20.9695 18.7371 17.1685 15.9291
0.6 1 3.9912 3.1236 2.7895 2.5528 2.3658
2 5.7786 4.5180 4.0323 3.6903 3.4238
3 18.3681 14.3629 12.8208 11.7349 10.8869
4 22.2404 17.3809 15.5077 14.1922 13.1745

10 24
n=0 n=2
n = 0.5 n=5
20 n=1
8 n=0 n=2
Buckling coefficient

Buckling coefficient

n = 0.5 n=5
16
n=1

6 12

8
4

2
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Hole size Hole size
Fig. 11. Buckling coefficient with hole size (simply supported square Al/ZrO2 plate, Fig. 12. Buckling coefficient with hole size (clamped square Al/ZrO2 plate, square
square hole, uniaxial compression). hole, uniaxial compression).
 X. Zhao et al. / Composite Structures 90 (2009) 161–171
and the hole size significantly influence the buckling load and
buckling mode of a plate.
Acknowledgement
The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant
from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Admin-
istrative Region, China [Project No. 9041356, CityU 116408].
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