Nonlinear bending of FGM plates subjected to combined loading and resting on elastic foundations

A nonlinear bending analysis is presented for a simply supported, functionally graded plate resting on an elastic foundation of Pasternak-type. The plate is exposed to elevated temperature and is subjected to a transverse uniform or sinusoidal load combined with initial compressive edge loads. Material properties are assumed to be temperature-dependent, and graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The formulations are based on a higher-order shear deformation plate theory and general von Kármán-type equation that includes the plate-foundation interaction and thermal effects. A two step perturbation technique is employed to determine the load–deflection and load–bending moment curves. The numerical illustrations concern nonlinear bending response of functional graded plates with two constituent materials resting on Pasternak elastic foundations from which results for Winkler elastic foundations are obtained as a limiting case. The results reveal that the characteristics of nonlinear bending are significantly influenced by foundation stiffness, temperature rise, transverse shear deformation, the character of in-plane boundary conditions and the amount of initial compressive load. In contrast, the effect of volume fraction index N becomes weaker when the plate is supported by an elastic foundation.