Buckling and large deflection behaviors of radially functionally graded ring-stiffened circular plates with various boundary conditions

The buckling and large deflection behaviors of axis-symmetric radially functionally graded (RFG) ring-stiffened circular plates are investigated by the dynamic relaxation (DR) method combined with the finite difference discretization technique. The material properties of the constituent components of the RFG plate are assumed to vary continuously according to the Mori-Tanaka distribution along the radial direction. The nonlinear governing equations are obtained in the incremental form based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) and the von Karman relations for large deflection. In the buckling analysis, an external in-plane load is applied to the plate incrementally so that, in each load-step, the incremental form of the governing equations can be solved by a numerical code prepared based on the DR method. After converging the DR code in the first increment, the latter load-step is added to the previous one, and the program is repeated again. The critical buckling load is determined from the compressive load-displacement curve obtained by solving the incremental form of the governing equa- tions. Based on the present incremental form of formulation, a bending analysis can also be conducted if the whole load is applied simultaneously. Finally, a detailed parametric study is carried out to investigate the influences of various boundary conditions, grading indices, thickness-to-radius ratios, stiffener’s positions and depths on the critical buckling load, and displacements and stresses resulted from the bending analysis. It is observed that the effect of the stiffener on the results is much greater in the functionally graded plate with higher material grading indices. The results also reveal that, by increasing the depth of the stiffer, the values of ascending the critical buckling load are approximately identical for both simply supported and clamped boundary conditions.