A Spline Finite Point Method for Nonlinear Bending Analysis of FG Plates in Thermal Environments Based on a Locking-free Thin/Thick Plate Theory

A spline finite point method (SFPM) based on a locking-free thin/thick plate theory, which is suitable for analysis of both thick and thin plates, is developed to study nonlinear bending behavior of functionally graded material (FGM) plates with different thickness in thermal environments. In the proposed method, one direction of the plate is discretized with a set of uniformly distributed spline nodes instead of meshes and the other direction is expressed with orthogonal functions determined by the boundary conditions. The displacements of the plate are constructed by the linear combination of orthogonal functions and cubic B-spline interpolation functions with high efficiency for modeling. The locking-free thin/thick plate theory used by the proposed method is based on the first-order shear deformation theory but takes the shear strains and displacements as basic unknowns. The material properties of the FG plate are assumed to vary along the thickness direction following the power function distribution. By comparing with several published research studies based on the finite element method (FEM), the correctness, efficiency, and generality of the new model are validated for rectangular plates. Moreover, uniform and nonlinear temperature rise conditions are discussed, respectively. The effect of the temperature distribution, in-plane temperature force, and elastic foundation on nonlinear bending under different parameters are discussed in detail.