Differential quadrature analysis of functionally graded circular and annular sector plates on elastic foundation

The main purpose of this study is to investigate buckling and free vibration behaviors of radially functionally graded circular and annular sector thin plates subjected to uniform in-plane compressive loads and resting on the Pasternak elastic foundation. In-plane compressive loads may be applied to either radial, circumferential, or all edges of circular/annular sector plates. Based on the classical plate theory (CPT), critical buckling loads and fundamental frequencies of the circular/annular sector plates under simply-supported and clamped boundary conditions are obtained by using differential quadrature method (DQM). The inhomogeneity of the plate is characterized by taking exponential variation of Young’s modulus and mass density of the material along the radial direction whereas Poisson’s ratio is considered to be constant. Convergence study is carried out to demonstrate the stability of the present method. To confirm the excellent accuracy of the present approach, a few comparisons are made for limited cases between the present results and those available in literature. Critical buckling load and fundamental frequency parameters of the circular/annular sector thin plates are computed for different boundary conditions, various values of the material inhomogeneity constants, sector angles, and inner to outer radius ratios.