Analysis of functionally graded plates by a robust meshless method

The analysis of static deformations of functionally graded plates is performed by using the collocation method, the radial basis functions and a higher-order shear deformation theory. The collocation method is truly meshless, allowing a fast and simple domain and boundary discretization. We select the shape parameter in the radial basis functions by an optimization procedure based on the cross-validation technique, and use the Mori-Tanaka homogenization technique to deduce effective properties of functionally graded materials. Numerical tests show that the method is reliable, robust and produces accurate results.