Post-buckling responses of elastoplastic FGM beams on nonlinear elastic foundation

The elastoplastic response of functionally graded material (FGM) beams resting on a nonlinear elastic foundation to an eccentric axial load is investigated by using the finite element method. The FGM is assumed to be formed from ceramic and metal phases with their volume fraction vary in the thickness direction by a power-law function. A bilinear elastoplastic behavior is assumed for the metallic phase, and the effective elastoplastic properties of the FGM are evaluated by Tamura-Tomota-Ozawa (TTO) model. Based on the classical beam theory, a nonlinear finite beam element taking the shift in the neutral axis position into account is formulated and employed in the investigation. An incremental-iterative procedure in combination with the arc-length control method is employed in computing the equilibrium paths of the beams. The validation of the formulated element is confirmed by comparing the equilibrium paths obtained by using the present element and the one available in the literature. The numerical results show that the elastoplastic post-buckling of the FGM beams is unstable, and the post-buckling strength is higher for the beams associated with a higher ceramic content. Different from homogeneous beams, yielding in the FGM beam occurs in the layer near the ceramic layer before in the layer near metal surface. A parametric study is carried out to highlight the effect of the material distribution, foundation support and eccentric ratio on the elastoplastic response of the beams.