Analysis of stiffened Al/SiC FGM plates with cutout under uniaxial and localized in-plane edge loadings

Effect of ring and straight stiffeners in the buckling as well as vibration characteristics of metal-ceramic functionally graded plates with cutout subjected to various uniaxial and localized in-plane compressive edge loadings was explored in the present work. In the current work, the distinguishing characteristics of metal and ceramic are merged in a single volume, and power law was used for estimating the material composition throughout thickness. Buckling and free vibration characteristics were studied initially for unstiffened Al/SiC functionally graded plates with cutout. Subsequently, the influence of cutout ratio on buckling load as well as natural frequency for different power law indices was discussed. The functionally graded plate was stiffened by three different stiffener patterns, namely; ring stiffener, straight stiffener, as well as a combination of the ring and the straight stiffener, to enhance the buckling as well as vibration characteristics. The effect of stiffener depth ratio for different stiffener patterns was also presented for functionally graded plates having different cutout sizes under various loading conditions. Such studies on functionally graded material have potential applications in a variety of technological fields including the aerospace and defense sectors.