Analysis of thick functionally graded plates by local integral equation method

Analysis of functionally graded plates under static and dynamic loads is presented by the meshless local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) method. Plate bending problem is described by Reissner-Mindlin theory. Both isotropic and orthotropic material properties are considered in the analysis. A weak formulation for the set of governing equations in the Reissner-Mindlin theory with a unit test function is transformed into local integral equations considered on local subdomains in the mean surface of the plate. Nodal points are randomly spread on this surface and each node is surrounded by a circular subdomain, rendering integrals which can be simply evaluated. The meshless approximation based on the moving least-squares (MLS) method is employed in the numerical implementation. Numerical results for simply supported and clamped plates are presented. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.