Buckling of cracked functionally graded plates under tension

Buckling of functionally graded cracked plates under tension has not been investigated so far. In this paper critical buckling load of functionally graded plates containing a crack has been obtained using classical plate theory through the finite element method. Displacement in vicinity of crack tips has been approximated using previous solutions related to bending of cracked plates. Effect on buckling of plate under uni-axial and bi-axial tension of different parameters, such as plate dimensions and material properties, are studied. Results show that the critical load decreases as material gradient index increases, while bi-axial loading leads to higher critical loads compared to uni-axial case. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.