Three-dimensional elastoplastic post-buckling analysis of functionally graded plates using a novel meshfree Tchebychev-radial point interpolation approach

Abstract

This paper presents a three-dimensional (3D) analysis of the post-buckling behavior of functionally graded (FG) plates for the first time using an elastoplasticity-based meshfree formulation. A novel 3D Tchebychev-radial point interpolation approach, which combines radial basis functions with Tchebychev polynomials, is developed to solve the nonlinear post-buckling problem. The incremental plastic deformation is modeled by the Prandtl–Reuss flow rule along the isotropic hardening von Mises criterion. The governing equations are derived using the principle of virtual work by considering the 3D full Green–Lagrange strain components. The Newton–Raphson technique along with the arc-length method is used to determine post-buckling equilibrium paths of FG plates. The effective elastoplastic properties of the functionally graded material are assessed by exploiting the homogenization method, named Tamura–Tomota–Ozawa (TTO) model. It has been demonstrated that the accuracy of the solution is improved by incorporating Tchebychev polynomials into the radial point interpolation method (RPIM) shape function, and the stability and robustness of the results are independent of variations in the shape parameter. Furthermore, it is confirmed that TRPIM, with a slightly higher CPU time compared to RPIM, exhibits a higher convergence rate. The excellent agreement of the results with those existing in the literature shows that the proposed meshfree method can be used as a robust and accurate numerical tool to predict the elastoplastic post-buckling behavior of FG plates. Further numerical assessments indicate that post-buckling paths are significantly affected by factors such as geometric parameters, material gradient, loading ratio, and boundary conditions (BCs).

Keywords:

• Post-buckling
• Three-dimensional elastoplasticity
• Functionally graded plate
• Tchebychev-radial point interpolation method
• Arc-length method

Disclosure statement

The author has no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical approval

This study does not involve human participants and/or animals.

Data availability statement

No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.