Free vibration analysis of functionally graded thin annular sector plates using the differential quadrature method

Abstract

In this article, the differential quadrature method (DQM) is used to study the free vibration of functionally graded (FG) thin annular sector plates. The material properties of the FG-plate are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness, according to the power-law distribution. The governing differential equations of motion are derived based on the classical plate theory and solved numerically using DQM. The natural frequencies of thin FG annular sector plates under various combinations of clamped, free, and simply supported boundary conditions are presented for the first time. To ensure the accuracy of the method, the natural frequencies of a pure metallic plate are calculated and compared with those existing in the literature for the homogeneous plate. In this case, the result shows very good agreement. For the FG-plates, the effects of boundary conditions, volume fraction exponent, and variation of Poisson's ratio on the free vibrational behaviour of the plate are studied.