Static, free vibration, and buckling analysis of functionally graded plates using the dual mesh control domain method

In this paper, the Dual Mesh Control Domain Method (DMCDM) put forward by Reddy is applied to solve linear static, free vibration, and buckling problems of functionally graded plates modeled using the First-Order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT). The material properties are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness of the plate according to a power-law. Formulations are presented for linear triangular (3-noded) and bilinear quadrilateral (4-noded) primal elements of arbitrary shape. The influence of the power-law exponents, length to thickness ratio, boundary conditions, and plate skewness on the numerical solution is systematically analyzed. Additionally, the numerical solutions using the DMCDM are compared against those from the Finite Element Method (FEM) to demonstrate the robustness of the DMCDM as a strong competitor to well-established numerical techniques such as the FEM.