Geometrically nonlinear analysis of functionally graded plates using isogeometric analysis

The purpose of this paper is to propose an efficient and accurate numerical model that employs isogeometric analysis (IGA) for the geometrically nonlinear analysis of functionally graded plates (FGPs). This model is utilized to investigate the effects of boundary conditions, gradient index, and geometric shape on the nonlinear responses of FGPs.

A geometrically nonlinear analysis of thin and moderately thick functionally graded ceramic-metal plates based on IGA in conjunction with first-order shear deformation theory and von Kármán strains is presented. The displacement fields and geometric description are approximated with nonuniform rational B-splines (NURBS) basis functions. The Newton-Raphson iterative scheme is employed to solve the nonlinear equation system. Material properties are assumed to vary along the thickness direction with a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents.

The present model for analysis of the geometrically nonlinear behavior of thin and moderately thick FGPs exhibited high accuracy. The shear locking phenomenon is avoided without extra numerical efforts when cubic or high-order NURBS basis functions are utilized.

This paper shows that IGA is particularly well suited for the geometrically nonlinear analysis of plates because of its exact geometrical modelling and high-order continuity.