Buckling analysis of functionally graded plates resting on elastic foundation by natural element method

Functionally graded material (FGM) has been spotlighted as an advanced composite material due to its excellent thermo-mechanical performance. And the buckling of FGM resting on elastic foundations has been a challenging subject because its behavior is directly connected to the structural safety. In this context, this paper is concerned with a numerical buckling analysis of metal-ceramic FG plates resting on a two-parameter (Pasternak-type) elastic foundation. The buckling problem is formulated based on the neutral surface and the (1,1,0) hierarchical model, and it is numerically approximated by 2-D natural element method (NEM) which provides a high accuracy even for coarse grid. The derived eigenvalue equations are solved by employing Lanczos and Jacobi algorithms. The numerical results are compared with the reference solutions through the benchmark test, from which the reliability of present numerical method has been verified. Using the developed numerical method, the critical buckling loads of metal-ceramic FG plates are parametrically investigated with respect to the major design parameters.