Thermoelastic analysis of functionally graded plates using the element-free kp-Ritz method

In this paper, the static responses of metal and ceramic functionally graded plates subject to thermal and mechanical loads are investigated. The first-order shear deformation plate theory is adopted, and the displacement field is expressed in terms of a set of mesh-free kernel particle functions. It is assumed that the material property of each plate exponentially varies through the thickness. The governing equations are solved to obtain the plate displacements and axial stresses using the element-free kp-Ritz method. The effects of the volume fraction, material property, boundary conditions and length-to-thickness ratio on the plate deflection and axial stress are discussed in detail. The numerical results generated from the proposed method agree well with those in the literature.