Large deflection analysis of moderately thick radially functionally graded annular sector plates fully and partially rested on two-parameter elastic foundations by GDQ method

This paper presents an investigation into large deflection analysis of moderately thick radially functionally graded (RFG) annular sector plates fully and partially rested on two-parameter (Pasternak) elastic foundation by employing Generalized Differential Quadrature (GDQ) method. The material properties are graded through the radial direction of plates according to a power-law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituent. Based on the first-order shear deformation theory in conjunction with non-linear von Kármán assumptions, the equilibrium equations are derived. Application of GDQ method to the equilibrium equations leads to a system of non-linear algebraic equations. The set of non-linear algebraic equations are then solved by employing the Newton–Raphson iterative scheme. It is shown that the predictions of GDQ method vis-à-vis other numerical methods reported in the literature, are in a good agreement. Furthermore, effects of change in power law index, geometrical parameters and stiffness of foundation are studied in detail.