Free vibration analysis of functionally graded annular plates by state-space based differential quadrature method and comparative modeling by ANN

This paper deals with three-dimensional analysis of functionally graded annular plates through using state-space based differential quadrature method (SSDQM) and comparative behavior modeling by artificial neural network (ANN) for different boundary conditions. The material properties are assumed to have an exponent-law variation along the thickness. A semi-analytical approach which makes use of state-space method in thickness direction and one-dimensional differential quadrature method in radial direction is used to obtain the vibration frequencies. The state variables include a combination of three displacement parameters and three stress parameters. Numerical results are given to demonstrate the convergency and accuracy of the present method. Once the semi-analytical method is validated, an optimal ANN is selected, trained and tested by the obtained numerical results. In addition to the quantitative input parameters, support type is also considered as a qualitative input in NN modeling. Eventually the results of SSDQM and ANN are compared and the influence of thickness of the annular plate, material property graded index and circumferential wave number on the non-dimensional natural frequency of annular functionally graded material (FGM) plates with different boundary conditions are investigated. The results show that ANN can acceptably model the behavior of FG annular plates with different boundary conditions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.