On the buckling and bending analysis of FG straight-sided quadrilateral nanoplates using a continuum mechanics-based surface elastic model

In this research, an elastic model based on the continuum mechanics is developed to study the static behaviors of functionally graded (FG) arbitrary straight-sided quadrilateral nanoplates. The model is constructed in the framework of Gurtin-Murdoch’s surface and Mindlin’s plate theories to account for the surface energy and shear deformation effects, simultaneously. The variational differential quadrature (VDQ) method is used along with a mapping technique to do the discretization process in a variational framework by means of differential and integral operators. Consequently, a weak form of governing equations is obtained from the energy quadratic representation of the problem. The solution method is of a distinguished feature as it involves just the first-order derivative of the field components in the mapping and discretization. After assuring the effectiveness of presented model by doing comparative studies, the critical buckling load and static deflection of the FG nanoplates with different shapes in geometry are investigated considering the surface effects. It is found that the surface energies effect on the static behavior of the rectangular nanoplates is more significant as compared to the non-rectangular nanoplates.