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

A free vibration analysis of metal and ceramic functionally graded plates that uses the element-free kp-Ritz method is presented. The material properties of the plates are assumed to vary continuously through their thickness according to a power-law distribution of the volume fractions of the plate constituents. The first-order shear deformation plate theory is employed to account for the transverse shear strain and rotary inertia, and mesh-free kernel particle functions are used to approximate the two-dimensional displacement fields. The eigen-equation is obtained by applying the Ritz procedure to the energy functional of the system. Convergence studies are performed to examine the stability of the proposed method, and comparisons of the solutions derived with those reported in the literature are provided to verify its accuracy. Four types of functionally graded rectangular and skew plates—Al/Al₂O₃, Al/ZrO₂, Ti–6Al–4V/Aluminum oxide, and SUS304/Si₃N₄—are included in the study, and the effects of the volume fraction, boundary conditions, and length-to-thickness ratio on their frequency characteristics are discussed in detail.