Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546
DOI 10.1007/s11012-016-0603-z
Bending, buckling and free vibration analyses
of functionally graded curved beams with variable
curvatures using isogeometric approach
Thao-An Huynh . Anh-Tuan Luu . Jaehong Lee
Received: 3 May 2016 / Accepted: 20 December 2016 / Published online: 3 January 2017
 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016
Abstract A study on the bending, buckling and free
vibration of functionally graded curved beams with
variable curvatures using isogeometric analysis is
presented here. Non-uniform rational B-splines,
known from computer aided geometric design, are
employed to describe the exact geometry and approx-
imate the unknown fields of a curved beam element
based on Timoshenko model. Material properties of
the beam are assumed to vary continuously through
the thickness direction according to the power law
form. The numerical examples investigated in this
paper deal with circular, elliptic, parabolic and cycloid
curved beams. Results have been verified with the
previously published works in both cases of straight
functionally graded beam and isotropic curved beam.
The effects of material distribution, aspect ratio and
slenderness ratio on the response of the beam with
different boundary conditions are numerically studied.
Furthermore, an interesting phenomenon of changing
mode shapes for both buckling and free vibration
characteristics corresponding to the variation in the
parameters mentioned above is also examined.
Keywords Isogeometric  FGM  Bending 
Buckling  Free vibration  Curved beam
T.-A. Huynh  A.-T. Luu  J. Lee (&)
Sejong University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
e-mail: jhlee@sejong.ac.kr
1 Introduction
The concept of functionally graded material (FGM)
was established in the middle eighties by a group of
material scientists in Japan. FGM is usually composed
of the mixture of ceramic and metal because this
enables advantages of both materials such as better
thermal resistance and stronger mechanical perfor-
mance. By smoothly changing the volume fraction of
the constituent materials, the FGM remedies material
failures caused by the undesirable stress discontinuity
existing between two surfaces in laminated compos-
ites. Therefore, it has been successfully applied for
various structural applications such as aerospace,
automobile, biomedical sectors and electronic indus-
try. Due to its wide applications, understanding the
static and dynamic characteristics of this material is
important.
Li et al. [1, 2] developed the analytical solutions for
bending and buckling analyses of FG Timoshenko
beam with various boundary conditions in terms of the
homogeneous Euler–Bernoulli beam. In the study of
Simsek and Kocaturk [3], the free and forced vibration
analyses were carried out to examine the behaviors of
FG simply supported beam under a concentrated
moving harmonic load. Lagrange’s equations were
used to derive the equations of motion by using Euler–
Bernoulli beam theory. The influences of the material
distribution and velocity of the moving harmonic load
on the dynamic responses of the FG beam were figured
out. Other investigations about the effect of various
123
2528
material composition on the static and free vibration
behavior of FG straight beams using the framework of
higher order shear deformation beam theory can be
followed in the works of [4–7]. In these studies, the
material properties of FG beam are assumed to vary in
the thickness direction according to power-law form.
Sankar [8] developed the elasticity solution based on
the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory for FG beam
subjected to sinusoidal transverse load. The Young’s
modulus is assumed to vary exponentially through the
thickness of the beam. It is found that the stress
concentrations depend on whether the softer or harder
surface of the FG beam is loaded. Recently, FG beams
whose the material properties vary in both thickness
and axial directions according to power and exponen-
tial laws were examined in the studies by Simsek
[9, 10]. By using Ritz method and Newmark-b
methods, buckling and vibrations characteristics of
the beams were investigated based on Timoshenko
beam theory. Vibration study was also conducted by
Taheri et al. [11] for unidirectional and bidirectional
FG structures such as beams, cylinder, and wall. The
gradations of FGM were represented by using the
same NURBS surfaces employed for computational
modeling for 2D plane elasticity problems. The state
space method was adopted in the study of Lu et al. [12]
to investigate the bending and thermal deformations of
bidirectional FG beams. The material variation was
assumed to follow the exponential law. The critical
snap load of thin shallow arches made of bi-directional
functionally graded material were presented by Atai
et al. [13]. Three cases of material property including
variation through length only, through thickness only
and both thickness and length simultaneously are
adopted according to the power law. In particular, few
authors investigated the FG beams with spatial
variation. Zhang et al. [14] analyzed a transient
dynamic crack for FGM by using a hypersingular
time-domain boundary integral equation method. The
authors considered different cases of gradient direc-
tion with the crack plane to investigate the effects of
material gradient on the transient dynamic stress
intensity factors. The FG beam with continuous
spatially varying material properties was presented
in the study of Kutis et al. [15] by using two different
methods, namely the multi-layering and the direct
integration methods. Other investigations of FGM
with spatial variation can be found in the studies of
[16, 17].
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Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546
As it is known, for common structural designs,
curved beams with variable curvatures have been
widely applied in engineering structures. Conse-
quently, considerable research efforts have been made
for the improved analysis of curved beams. Several
researchers [18–20] attempted to study the most
general problems in curved beam such as bending
and buckling by proposing analytical solutions. To
develop a simple and accurate curved beam element, a
simple two-node curved shear flexible beam element
which is devoid of shear membrane locking a violent
stress oscillations in assumption of cubic polynomial
field for radial displacement was proposed by Raveen-
dranath et al. [21]. Besides, the dynamic behaviors of
curved beam have been the subject that received many
interest by researchers [22–26]. The closed form
solutions for laminated curved beam of arbitrary
variable curvatures were derived by Lin and Hsieh
[27] for different boundary conditions. The governing
functions were expressed as functions of angle of
tangent slope. The solutions then were applied to solve
the displacement fields of beams with various curve
types such as elliptic, parabola and hyperbola, etc.
Along with increasing applications of curved
beams, new methodologies have been experiencing
for analyzing their mechanical behaviors. Recently, as
an alternative to the finite element method (FEM),
isogeometric analysis (IGA) which was introduced by
Hughes et al. [28] is often used in Computer Aided
Design (CAD) approaches. The idea of this approach
is to describe exact the geometry from the CAD by
utilizing the basis functions, usually non-uniform
rational B-Spline (NURBS) which are used for the
geometrical representation and the interpolation func-
tions of the unknown fields variables. Hence, a distinct
advantage over FEM is that, during analysis process,
accurate geometry can be provided by IGA. NURBS-
based IGA was used in the study of Luu et al. [29] to
investigate the free vibration behavior of the deep
curved beam with arbitrary curvature. In the work by
the same author [30], the finite free-form curved beam
element was formulated by IGA based on Timoshenko
beam theory. The parabolic, elliptic, Tschirhausen
cubic and full elliptic ring curved beams were
considered in this study. It was found that, using
IGA can eliminate the gap between the free vibration
of the curved beams with constant curvature and those
with variable curvatures. Further information on the
recent development of NURBS-based IGA for solving
Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546
problems such as bending, buckling and vibration
analysis of arches and plates can be also found in
[31–33].
In order to understand the behavior of FG beams,
there are interesting results for a wide range of
research on the mechanics of straight beams con-
structed with FGM. However, published papers which
have been devoted to FG curved beams are fewer. The
exact solutions for stress distribution across the FG
curved bars are considered by Dryden [34] based on
the hypothesis of plane stresses meanwhile in the
study of Wang and Liu [35], the stresses and
displacements were investigated by means of the Airy
stress function method. Song et al. [36, 37] proposed
the governing equations for the nonlinear stability of
FG elastic arches based on Kirchhoffs assumption of
straight normal line and theory of axial extension and
geometric nonlinearity. Then, the influences of mate-
rial distribution, rise-span ratio and the number of
pinned support on the buckling of FGM arches were
studied. Furthermore, Filipich and Piovan [38] studied
the free vibration problem of thick curved beams made
of functionally graded materials by means of the
power series method. The inertial coupling between
axial displacement and bending slope still occurs and
only vanished in case of straight beam. It should be
remarked that there is a scarce information related to
the behavior of FG curved beam with arbitrary
gradation or variable curvatures. Piovan et al. [39]
carried out a study about the dynamic and buckling
behaviors of slender curved beams. The model of
FGM curved beam was deduced by adopting a
consistent displacement field which incorporated
second order rotational terms based on the semi-
Fig. 1 Coordinate system and geometry of FG curved beam
2529
tangential rule. Note that the study is limited on
circular curved beam. Shafiee et al. [40] derived the
closed form solutions for buckling load related to pure
bending moment and uniform compression of FGM
curved beam with thin-walled cross section. It is noted
that only circular curved arches and the linearized
form of the FGM properties, so-called Praveen and
Reddy’s model [41], were used in this study. The
mentioned linearized form of FGM properties was also
used in the study of Yousefi and Rastgoo [42]. By
considering the effects of thickness curvature, the
authors presented a formulation for the free vibration
problem of FG spatial curved beam was presented
based on the first order shear deformation theory and
Ritz method.
To the authors’knowledge, the behaviors of curved
beam made of functionally graded material with
arbitrary gradation using the power law form have
not been carried out using isogeometric approach. In
this paper, the focus of the present work is to analyze
the static, buckling as well as the vibration character-
istics of FG curved beams within isogeometric
framework. Here, four shapes of curved beams with
variable curvatures including circular, cycloid, elliptic
and parabolic are considered. The Timoshenko-type
curved beam theory is implemented to derive the
governing equations. Instead of Lagrange interpola-
tion functions, NURBS basis functions are used for
approximate the unknown fields and represent the
exact geometry of the beam. The arbitrary variation of
material properties is assumed to follow power law
through the thickness of FG beam. Some numerical
results will explore the effectiveness and accuracy of
the proposed model by comparing the current results
with previously published works in the literature. The
buckling and vibration mode transition phenomenons
are also investigated according to the variation of
material distribution, aspect ratio and slenderness ratio
of the beam.
1
N1,3 N8,3
N4,3 N5,3
N2,3 N3,3 N6,3 N7,3
0
0,0,0,0 1 2 3 4 5,5,5,5
Fig. 2 Non-uniform rational B-splines, order of the curve p ¼ 3
with N ¼ f0 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 5 5 5g
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2530 Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546

here. Additional detailed information can be found in

the book of Piegl [44]. A NURBS curved of order p for
the knot vector N with control point Pi is typically used
for describing geometry A and for representing the
displacement field Uf as below
Xnen
A ¼ ae ðgÞ ¼ Ni ðgÞPi : ð2Þ
i¼1

X
nen
Uf ¼ ue ðgÞ ¼ Ni ðgÞuei : ð3Þ
i¼1

where nen is the number of control point for support-

ing each element. The control point Pi 2 Rd ; i ¼
1; 2; . . .; n makes NURBS functions draw a desired
Fig. 3 Mapping for integration by Gaussian quadrature on curve and the knot vector, written N ¼ ðg1 ; g2 ; . . .;
NURBS elements of curved beam [30] gnþpþ1 Þ, is a set of non-decreasing real numbers,
where gi is the ith knot and n denotes the number of
The structure of the paper is organized as follows. basis functions. Based on an uniform open knot vector,
Section 2 presents the theoretical formulations of the B-Spline basis function Bi;p ðgÞ are defined recursively
proposed approach. In Sect. 3, numerical examples starting with the order p ¼ 0 as follows
are given. Results of the analysis for illustrated 
examples are discussed and corresponding graphs 1 if gi  g\giþ1
Bi;0 ðgÞ ¼ ð4Þ
are plotted. Finally, conclusions are derived from the 0 otherwise;
present study in Sect. 4.
For p  1
g  gi giþpþ1  g
Bi;p ðgÞ ¼ Bi;p1 ðgÞ þ Biþ1;p1 ðgÞ:
2 Theoretical formulations giþp  gi giþpþ1  giþ1
ð5Þ
2.1 Functionally graded material
The NURBS basis function is defined as follows
The effective material properties PðzÞ ¼ ðEðzÞ; GðzÞ; Bi;p ðgÞwi
qðzÞÞ of the FG curved beam that vary along the Ni;p ðgÞ ¼ Pn : ð6Þ
i¼1 Bi;p ðgÞwi
thickness of the beam are assumed to the following
power law Here, weights wi associate to ith control point and are
  obtained from CAD packages. For example, a third order
z 1 k NURBS functions corresponding to the knot vector
PðzÞ ¼ ðPt  Pb Þ þ þ Pb : ð1Þ
h 2 N ¼ f0 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 5 5 5g
Here Pt and Pb denote the material properties at the top is presented in Fig. 2.
and bottom surfaces, respectively. For simplicity, the The NURBS basis functions are useful in design as
Poisson’s ratio of metal and ceramic are assumed to be well as finite element analysis because they have the
identical (m ¼ 0:3) as its effect is less than that of following properties: non-negativity, partition of unity
P
Young’s modulus [43]. The coordinate system and ( ni¼1 Ni;p ðgÞ ¼ 1) and interpolate at the end points. A
geometry of the FG curved beam are shown in Fig. 1. typical element of a curved beam which is defined in
the parametric domain X b e and the curvilinear domain
2.2 Isogeometric formulation X . As shown in Fig. 3, the curvilinear domain Xe is
e

obtained by mapping [30]. The transformation of

A brief introduction about the geometry of a curved parent element coordinate g 2 X e to parametric coor-
beam by means of NURBS interpolation is described dinates g 2 X b e of quadrature point is given by

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Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546 2531

Table 1 Material properties of the FG beams are used in the numerical examples
Property Aluminum (Al) Alumina (Al2 O3 ) Zirconia (ZrO2 ) Nickel steel (FeNi)

E (Gpa) 70.0 380.0 200.0 27.9

m 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
q (kg/m3) 2702 3960 5700 8908

(a) (b)

(c)

Fig. 4 Different types of curved beams: a Elliptical, b parabolic, c cycloid

1 
g¼ ðgiþ1  gi Þ
g þ ðgiþ1 þ gi Þ : ð7Þ
2 Table 2 Non-dimensional maximum deflection w  103 ¼
wEm I
The Jacobian JðgÞ of the transformation from the qL4of simply supported Al=Al2 O3 FG straight beam subjected
curvilinear domain to the parametric domain can be to uniform distributed load
expressed as L/h k w
"    #12 Li et al. [1] This study
dn 2 df 2
JðgÞ ¼ þ : ð8Þ
dg dg 20 0 2.413 2.412
0.5 3.720 3.719
Thus, the curvature jðgÞ is taken by the form 1 4.836 4.835
  5 7.337 7.335
1 dn d2 f df d 2 n
jðgÞ ¼ 3  : ð9Þ 109 13.098 13.096
J dg dg2 dg dg2
10 0 2.455 2.454
0.5 3.778 3.776
2.3 Kinematic relationship 1 4.908 4.905
5 7.469 7.465
The displacement field according to Timoshenko 109 13.328 13.321
beam theory is expressed as
Uðx; z; tÞ ¼ uðx; tÞ þ z/ðx; tÞ; ð10Þ

Wðx; z; tÞ ¼ wðx; tÞ: ð11Þ 0 ¼ u0 þ jw; ð12Þ

where u; w; / are the tangential, radial and bending c ¼ w0 þ /  ju; ð13Þ
rotation displacements, respectively. The middle sur-
face strain 0 , shear strain c can be written as The normal strain at any point z is given by

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2532 Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546

1 Q ¼ A55 ðw0  ju þ /Þ; ð16cÞ

¼ ðu0 þ jw þ z/0 Þ: ð14Þ
1 þ jz
where N, M, Q are axial force, bending moment and
Here, the superposed prime ð0 Þ represents differenti- shear force, respectively. The kinetic energy for the
ation with respect to x. The stress-strain relation for entire beam is
FG curved beam can be written as Z Z
1 L
T¼ ðqðzÞ½ðu_ 2 þ w_ 2 Þ þ 2zðju_ 2 þ /_ uÞ
_
rxx ¼ EðzÞ: ð15Þ 2 0 A ð17Þ
þ z2 ðj2 u_ 2 þ /_ 2 þ 2j/_ uÞdAdx;
_
The resultant force and moment of the curved beam
can be given as where qðzÞ and A are the effective material density and
area of cross-section, respectively. Besides, the (.)
N ¼ A11 ðu0 þ jwÞ þ B11 /0 ; ð16aÞ denotes the differentiation with respect to t. The strain
energy U is then given by
M ¼ B11 ðu0 þ jwÞ þ D11 /0 ; ð16bÞ Z
1 L
U¼ ðA11 0 2 þ 2B11 0 v þ D11 v2 þ A55 c2 Þdx;
2 0
ð18Þ
where A11 , B11 , D11 and A55 denote the extensional,
0.22
coupling, bending and transverse shear rigidities
0.20 respectively which are defined as follows
Z
0.18
ðA11 ; B11 ; D11 Þ ¼ EðzÞð1; z; z2 ÞdA; ð19aÞ
0.16 A
w

Z
0.14 Quadratic
ðI0 ; I1 ; I2 Þ ¼ qðzÞð1; z; z2 ÞdA; ð19bÞ
Cubic A
0.12 Quartic
Quintic Z
0.10 Castigliano's closed form A55 ¼ GðzÞdA: ð19cÞ
A
0.08 0
10 101 102
The detailed derivation procedure is given in ‘‘Ap-
Number of elements
pendix 1’’.
(a)

0.12
0.36

0.10 0.30 Straight beam

L/R = π/18
L/R = π/6
w

0.08 0.24
L/R = π/2
Quadratic
w

Cubic 0.18
0.06 Quartic
Quintic
0.12
0.04 0 1 2
10 10 10
Number of elements 0.06

(b) 0 1 2 3 4 5
k
Fig. 5 Convergence of the non-dimensional maximum deflec-
tion of Al=ZrO2 FG quarter-circular cantilever curved beam Fig. 6 The non-dimensional maximum deflection of Al=ZrO2
under tip load: a k ¼ 0 and b k ¼ 1 FG circular cantilever curved beam under tip load

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Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546 2533

0.5
1.2
k = 0 (This study) k=0.0
k = 0 (Dym et al.[46]) k=0.5
k=1 1.0 k=1.0
0.25 k=5 k=5.0
0.8 Lin and Hsieh [44]

w
0.6
z/h

0.4

−0.25 0.2

0.0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

−0.5 b/a
−5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1
Non-dimensional axial stress σ̄xx Fig. 8 The non-dimensional maximum deflection of Al=ZrO2
(a) FG elliptic cantilever curved beam under bending moment at the
0.5 free end
k = 0 (This study)
k = 0 (Dym et al.[46])
k=1 qgeixt ;
fqðx; tÞg ¼ f ð21Þ
0.25 k=5

Here, x is the natural frequency; f

qg ¼ ðuf ; wf ; /f Þ is
the response amplitude vector. By applying Hamil-
z/h

0 ton’s principle
Z t2
d ðU  T  WÞdt ¼ 0: ð22Þ
−0.25 t1

Substituting Eqs. (17) , (18) and (20) into Eq. (22) and
integrating by parts, the following governing equa-
−0.5
−5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 tions are obtained
Non-dimensional axial stress σ̄xx

(b) For bending and buckling analysis

Fig. 7 Nondimensional axial stress distributions at the crown of 0 ¼ A11 ðu0 þ jwÞ0  B11 /00  A55 jðw0 þ /  juÞ
FG circular curved beam subjected to uniform radial pressure
 px þ P0 jðw0  juÞ; ð23aÞ
(L=R ¼ p=6; L=h ¼ 20). a CC FG circular curved beam, b PP
FG circular curved beam
0 ¼ A11 jðu0 þ jwÞ  B11 j/0  A55 ðw0 þ /  juÞ0
In the following, the work done due to the  pz þ P0 jðw0  juÞ0 ; ð23bÞ
distributed tangential load px , radial load pz , moment
pm and the axial load P0 is given by 0 ¼ B11 ðu0 þ jwÞ0  D11 /00  A55 ðw0 þ /  juÞ0
Z L  pm : ð23cÞ
1
W¼ ðpx u þ pz w þ pm / þ P0 ðw0  juÞ2 Þdx:
0 2 For free vibration analysis
ð20Þ
0 ¼ A11 ðu0f þ jwf Þ0 þ B11 /00f þ A55 jðw0f þ /f  juf Þ
ð24aÞ
From the above expressions, it can be noted that the þ x2 fðI0 þ 2jI1 þ j2 I2 Þuf þ ðI1 þ jI2 Þ/f g;
external loads are ignored for free vibration case
meanwhile for the static case, the axial load P0 is 0 ¼ A11 jðu0f þ jwf Þ þ B11 j/0f  A55 ðw0f þ /f
neglected. The harmonic solutions fqðx; tÞg ¼  juf Þ0  I0 x2 wf ; ð24bÞ
fu; w; /g are taken by the form

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2534 Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546

0 ¼ B11 ðu0f þ jwf Þ0 þ D11 /00f  A55 ðw0f þ /f  juf Þ where u ¼ fuf ; wf ; /f gT denotes element displace-
þ x2 fðI1 þ jI2 Þuf þ I2 /f g: ð24cÞ ment vector; K = element stiffness matrix, G =
element geometric stiffness matrix, M = element
The finite element model of a typical element for each mass matrix, F = element load vector. The explicit
analysis case can be derived as forms of K; G; M; F are given in ‘‘Appendix 2’’. The
Bending analysis assembly of elements follows the standard procedure
Ku ¼ F ð25Þ of FEM. More detail on their uses in FEM are given in
the book of Cottrell et al. [45].
Buckling analysis
ðK  P0 GÞu ¼ 0 ð26Þ
3 Numerical examples
Free vibration analysis
In this section, some numerical examples for FG
ðK  x2 MÞu ¼ 0 ð27Þ curved beams composed of metal and ceramic are
presented. Unless stated otherwise, the top surface of
the beam is metal-rich and the bottom surface is
Table 3 Non-dimensional critical buckling load of FG semi-
circular beam subjected to uniform radial pressure with various
boundary conditions (k ¼ 0:1; L=h ¼ 20) 60

Boundary conditions Pcr

54
This study Song et al. [36]
48
CC 39.81 40.89 Symmetric
Pcr

42 Anti-Symmetric
CP 24.86 24.86
PP 14.28 16.98 36

30
Table 4 Non-dimensional critical buckling loads of Al=ZrO2
FG circular curved beam under uniformly distributed radial 24
load with various boundary conditions 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Boundary conditions k L/R k

(a)
p=3 p=2 p
36

CC 0.0 9.712 9.909 10.493

0.5 15.322 15.634 16.555 30

1.0 17.331 17.683 18.725

5.0 22.123 22.572 23.902 24
Pcr

109 27.748 28.311 29.980 Symmetric

Anti-Symmetric
PP 0.0 4.751 4.717 3.885 18
0.5 7.488 7.424 6.018
1.0 8.460 8.388 6.795
12
5.0 10.796 10.710 8.744
109 13.574 13.476 11.100
6
CP 0.0 6.755 6.841 6.595 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0.5 10.763 10.857 10.367 k

(b)
1.0 12.176 12.278 11.718
5.0 15.470 15.624 14.979 Fig. 9 The variation of the non-dimensional buckling load with
109 19.299 19.545 18.844 gradient index k of a Al=ZrO2 FG circular curved beam for
different boundary conditions: a CC (L=R ¼ p=4) and b PP
ðL=h ¼ 20Þ (L=R ¼ p=7)

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Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546 2535


ceramic-rich. The material properties used for the FG wEm I=PL3 for circular beam under tip load P;
¼
w
curved beams are listed in Table 1. wEm I=M0 a2 for elliptic beam under moment M0 :
The curved beams have a solid rectangular cross-
section with thickness h, width bw and its curve length • Non-dimensional axial stress of FG circular curved
L. Numerical examples range from a simple circular beam subjected to uniform radial pressure p0
curve type (radius R) to elliptic , parabolic and cycloid
rxx ¼ rxx bh=p0 L
types as shown in Fig. 4. Note that the cycloid curve is
given by a circle radius R rolling from the origin and • Non-dimensional critical buckling load of FG
rotate through an angle h along a flat surface. For curved beams under to uniformly distributed radial
convenience, the non-dimensional quantities are load p0
defined as follows, unless otherwise noted,
Pcr ¼ Pcr L2 =Em I:
• Non-dimensional maximum deflection of FG can-
tilever curved beam under various types of loading • Non-dimensional frequency of FG curved beams
at the free end

250
400 Symmetric(k=0) Anti-Symmetric(k=0)
Symmetric(k=0) Anti-Symmetric(k=0) Symmetric(k=1) Anti-Symmetric(k=1)
350 200
Symmetric(k=1) Anti-Symmetric(k=1)
300
150
250
Pcr

200 100
Pcr

150

50
100

50
0
0 10 20 30 40 50
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 L/h
L/h
(a)
(a)
250
Symmetric(k=0) Anti-Symmetric(k=0)
300 Symmetric(k=0) Anti-Symmetric(k=0) Symmetric(k=1) Anti-Symmetric(k=1)
Symmetric(k=1) Anti-Symmetric(k=1) 200

250

150
200
Pcr
Pcr

100
150

100 50

50 0
0 10 20 30 40 50
0 10 20 30 40 50
L/h L/h

(b) (b)

Fig. 10 The variation of the non-dimensional buckling load of Fig. 11 The variation of the non-dimensional buckling load of
Al=ZrO2 CC FG cycloid curved beam with respect to the Al=ZrO2 PP FG cycloid curved beam with respect to the
slenderness ratio L/h: a h ¼ p and b h ¼ 2p slenderness ratio L/h: a h ¼ p and b h ¼ 2p

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2536 Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546

qffiffiffiffiffi
 ¼ xLh
Table 5 Non-dimensional frequencies x
2 qm
for 3.1 Bending analysis
Em
Al2 O3 =Al FG straight beams with various boundary conditions
As there are quite a few papers devoted to study FG
Boundary conditions L/h k This study Simsek [5] curved beams, especially for the micromechanics
CF 5 0.0 1.898 1.895 models that have been proposed on the power law, the
0.5 1.620 1.617 validation of the present approach is considered by
1.0 1.465 1.463 simply supported FG straight beam under uniformly
20 0.0 1.950 1.950 distributed load. Table 2 presents the non dimensional
0.5 1.660 1.660 maximum deflection w  103 ¼ wEm I=qL4 of Al2 O3
1.0 1.501 1.501 FG straight beam for various gradient indexes and
CC 5 0.0 10.140 10.034 slenderness ratios L/h. The beam is modeled with 32
0.5 8.784 8.700
quadratic NURBS elements. The calculated results are
1.0 7.999 7.925
compared with those given by Li et al. [1]. A good
agreement is found.
20 0.0 12.236 12.224
Next, Al=ZrO2 FG cantilever beams with circular
0.5 10.435 10.426
and elliptic curve types are presented. The slenderness
1.0 9.440 9.431
ratio L/h and the span-to-thickness ratio a/h are set
PP 5 0.0 5.172 5.152
equal to 20 and 100, respectively.
0.5 4.413 4.408
1.0 3.983 3.990
3.1.1 Circular curved beam
20 0.0 5.462 5.460
0.5 4.651 4.651
FG quarter-circular cantilever curved beam under tip
1.0 4.205 4.205
load is considered. Here, the radius R of curvature of a
circular is a constant. The convergence of non-
( pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi dimensional maximum deflection is depicted in
xð2aÞ2 qc A=Ec I for elliptic beam; Fig. 5 in case of material gradient index k ¼ 0 and
¼
x pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
xs2 qc A=Ec I for parabolic beam: k ¼ 1. As we can see from this figure, the convergence
is achieved to expected results with 16 quadratic, 4
cubic, 2 quartic and 2 quintic NURBS elements in both
cases. Note that the non-dimensional maximum
The obtained numerical results from the proposed deflection of isotropic aluminum curved beam in
approach have been compared with available results in Fig. 5a is compared to the tip deflection wc from the
the literature. following closed-form equation

 of isotropic aluminum parabolic and semi-elliptic curved beams

Table 6 The first four non-dimensional frequencies x
(k ¼ 109 ; s=r ¼ 100; 2a=r ¼ 100)
Boundary conditions Geometry Method Mode
1 2 3 4

CC Parabolic Present 40.767 82.728 139.056 142.138

(s=f ¼ 0:25) Luu et al. [29] 40.715 82.521 139.077 141.558
Elliptic Present 44.060 53.917 123.123 162.751
(f =2a ¼ 0:2) Tseng et al. [23] 43.978 53.866 122.959 162.311
PP Parabolic Present 25.151 62.414 113.612 138.819
(s=f ¼ 0:25) Luu et al. [29] 25.151 62.358 113.381 138.852
Elliptic Present 33.535 39.561 121.237 121.609
(f =2a ¼ 0:2) Tseng et al. [23] 33.527 39.523 121.078 121.465

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Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546 2537

Table 7 Convergence rate p Number of Mode

of non-dimensional elements
frequencies x ¼ 1 2 3 4 5 6
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
xð2aÞ2 qc A=Ec I for CC
2 8 43.993 54.481 144.781 163.486 315.715 341.874
isotropic ceramic semi-
elliptic curved beams 16 41.945 51.528 125.267 136.631 246.652 247.532
(b=2a ¼ 0:2; 2a=h ¼ 30; 32 41.873 51.422 124.061 135.442 239.356 241.743
k ¼ 0) 64 41.872 51.419 124.034 135.412 239.185 241.591
3 8 42.386 52.097 130.633 143.280 269.035 284.119
16 41.878 51.429 124.165 135.565 240.367 242.752
32 41.872 51.419 124.034 135.412 239.187 241.592
64 41.872 51.419 124.033 135.410 239.179 241.586
4 8 41.934 51.561 126.131 137.370 248.103 258.936
16 41.872 51.420 124.044 135.426 239.358 241.773
32 41.872 51.419 124.033 135.410 239.179 241.586
64 41.872 51.419 124.033 135.410 239.179 241.586
5 8 41.883 51.448 124.417 135.873 244.358 245.639
16 41.872 51.419 124.034 135.412 239.215 241.615
32 41.872 51.419 124.033 135.410 239.179 241.586
64 41.872 51.419 124.033 135.410 239.179 241.586

Table 8 Convergence rate p Number of Mode

of non-dimensional elements
frequencies x ¼ 1 2 3 4 5 6
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
xð2aÞ2 qc A=Ec I for CC
2 8 33.543 42.527 112.184 133.606 258.613 275.666
FG semi-elliptic curved
beams (b=2a ¼ 0:2; 16 31.896 39.864 95.961 107.987 193.379 195.803
2a=h ¼ 30; k ¼ 1) 32 31.833 39.765 94.892 106.827 186.451 190.529
64 31.832 39.763 94.869 106.798 186.293 190.392
3 8 32.262 40.358 100.568 113.989 214.603 227.090
16 31.837 39.772 94.987 106.954 187.438 191.505
32 31.832 39.763 94.870 106.798 186.294 190.394
64 31.832 39.763 94.869 106.797 186.287 190.387
4 8 31.883 39.889 96.588 108.671 194.669 204.893
16 31.832 39.763 94.878 106.813 186.465 190.569
32 31.832 39.763 94.869 106.797 186.287 190.388
64 31.832 39.763 94.869 106.797 186.287 190.387
5 8 31.841 39.787 95.178 107.206 191.938 192.980
16 31.832 39.763 94.870 106.799 186.323 190.416
32 31.832 39.763 94.869 106.797 186.287 190.387
64 31.832 39.763 94.869 106.797 186.287 190.387

pPR3 pPR pPR Figure 6 plots the non-dimensional maximum

wc ¼ ð þ þ Þ: deflection of FG circular cantilever curved beam with
4EI 4GAKs 4EA
respect to various gradient indexes k for different
using Castigliano’s energy theorem [21] and good values of the length-to-radius ratio L/R. The curved
agreement can be observed. beam is modeled by 16 quintic NURBS elements. As

123
2538 Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546

30 56

MODE 1 MODE 2
48
24 CC CC
40 PP
18 CP CP
32

ω
ω

PP 24
12

16

6
8
CF
CF

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

k k
(a) (b)
98 140

CC MODE 3 CC MODE 4
84 120 PP
PP CP
70 100
CP

56 80
ω

42 60
CF
28 CF 40

14 20

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

k k
(c) (d)
Fig. 12 The non-dimensional frequency versus gradient index k of a Al2 O3 =Al FG semi-elliptic curved beam with different boundary
conditions (2a=h ¼ 30)

expected, the deflection of the beam decreases as the those obtained from equations given by Dym et al.
gradient index k increases, especially a significant [46] as bellows
reduction of deflection occurs when k\1. Further-
• For clamped ends
more, as shown in Fig. 6, the values of non-dimen-
sional maximum deflection in case of straight beam qR=A
rxx ¼  ð4k2 =15 þ ð2z=hÞkÞ ð28Þ
and the curved beam with very small L/R ratio 1 þ 4k2 =15
(L=R ¼ p=18) are almost the same.
In the following analysis, the axial stress distribu- • For pinned ends
tions at the crown of circular FG curved beams qR=A
subjected to uniform radial pressure p0 are examined rxx ¼  2
ð8k2 =5 þ ð2z=hÞ3kÞ ð29Þ
1 þ 8k =5
for both clamped ends (CC) and pinned ends (PP) with
different values of power law index k in Fig. 7. The
length-to-thickness and length-to-radius ratios are where k denotes the dimensionless arch rise parameter
fixed at L=h ¼ 20 and L=R ¼ p=6. In case of full as the ratio of the arch rise to one-half of the arch
metal beam (k ¼ 0), the results are compared with thickness which is defined approximately k ffi a2 R=h.

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Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546 2539

55 produce the transition points at k  3:75 and k  1:88

Symmetric respectively. Notice that the dimensionless arch rise
50
Anti-Symmetric parameters in the present study is k ¼ 2:62 which is
45 lesser than the transition point in case of clamped ends
and greater than the transition point in case of pinned
40
ends in the study by Dym and William [46]. Hence, as
shown in Fig. 7a, the axial stress distributions are
ω

35
similar to classic beam bending behavior meanwhile
30 the axial stress shown in Fig. 7b are in compression
through the beam thickness. Thus, it can be observed
25
that the stress distributions are greatly influenced by
20 the power law index k. Therefore, using FGMs
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

k
produce a specified stress field across the beam. It is
(a) possible to adjust the variation index k so that the stress
is more equal through the thickness of the beam.
40
Symmetric
Anti-Symmetric
3.1.2 Elliptic curved beam
35

Let us consider a FG elliptic cantilever curved beam

under bending moment at the free end. The variation
30
ω

of non dimensional maximum deflection with the

aspect ratio b/a of a FG elliptic cantilever curved beam
25 is depicted in Fig. 8 for various gradient index k. The
results for isotropic aluminum beam (k ¼ 0) are in
excellent agreement with the solutions given by Lin
20
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and Hsieh [27]. In this figure, it is possible to see that
k the deflection of FG elliptic cantilever curved beam
(b) increases as the aspect ratio increases. Besides, the
deflection increases more rapidly for isotropic alu-
Fig. 13 Variation of the non-dimensional frequency with
gradient index k of a Al2 O3 =Al FG semi-elliptic curved beam
minum beam (k ¼ 0) than for the other cases of FG
for different boundary conditions when 2a=h ¼ 30: a CC beam (k ¼ 0:5; 1 and 5).
(b=2a ¼ 0:4) and b PP (b=2a ¼ 0:2)

3.2 Buckling analysis

A good agreement between the present results (the
solid line) and the results given by equations Eqs. (28)
and (29) (the short dotted line). It is noted that [46]
considered thin arches ðh=R 1Þ and so assumed a
linear stress distributions through the thickness.
However, in FG circular curved beams (k ¼ 1 and
5), it is observed that the axial stress distributions
become non-linear with respect to the middle plane of
the beams due to large curvature and material
variation. A further point to be noted is the transition
from classic beam bending behavior to an pure
compressive state which could be defined as occurring
at that value of k which ensure that the axial stress is in
compression through the beam thickness. According
to [46], for circular curved beams with clamped ends
In this section, FeNi=Al2 O3 FG curved semi-circular
beam under uniformly distributed radial load is
investigated for validation purpose. The axial force
P0 ¼ p0 R is constant through the beam. The non-
dimensional critical buckling load Pcr ¼ pcr L3 =Ec I of
the beams with clamped ends (CC), clamped-pinned
(CP) ends and pinned ends (PP) are considered in case
of the gradient index k ¼ 0:1. The slenderness ratio is
taken as L=h ¼ 20. From Table 3, it can be seen that
the results are close with those numerical results
reported by Song et al. [36].
Next, Al=ZrO2 FG curved beam under uniformly
distributed radial load is considered with various

123
2540 Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546

Fig. 14 The first six mode (a) (b)

shapes of CC FG semi-
elliptic curved beam when
k ¼ 2; b=2a ¼ 0:4 and
2a=h ¼ 30 (solid line for
deformed shape and dashed
line for undeformed shape)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)

100
60 MODE 1 MODE 2
k=0.0 k=0.0
90
k=0.5 k=0.5
50 k=1.0 k=1.0
80

40
70
ω

30 60

50
20

40
10
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
f/s f/s
(a) (b)
210
150
MODE 3 MODE 4
k=0.0 195 k=0.0
k=0.5 k=0.5
135
k=1.0 180
k=1.0
120 165

150
ω

105
ω

135
90
120

75
105

60 90
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
f/s f/s
(c) (d)
Fig. 15 The non-dimensional frequency versus aspect ratio f/s with different values of material gradient index of Al2 O3 =Al CC FG
parabolic curved beams (s=h ¼ 30)

123
Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546 2541

40
MODE 1 80 MODE 2
k=0.0 k=0.0
k=0.5 k=0.5
70
k=1.0 k=1.0
30

60
ω

ω
20 50

40

10
30

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
f/s f/s
(a) (b)
135
MODE 3 165 MODE 4
k=0.0 k=0.0
120 k=0.5 k=0.5
150
k=1.0 k=1.0
105 135

90 120
ω

75 105

90
60

75
45
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
f/s f/s
(c) (d)
Fig. 16 The non-dimensional frequency versus aspect ratio f/s with different values of material gradient index of Al2 O3 =Al PP FG
parabolic curved beams (s=h ¼ 30)

boundary conditions. The results are obtained by 16
quintic NURBS elements.
3.2.1 Circular curved beam
The non-dimensional critical buckling loads of FG
circular curved beam with CC, PP and CP boundary
conditions are shown in Table 4. Numerical results are
obtained for three different length-to-radius ratios
including L=R ¼ p=3; p=2 and p. It can be seen from
this table, the critical buckling load increases as
k increases. Moreover, CC beam yields the largest
1) whereas at small
non-dimensional critical load meanwhile PP beam
yields the smallest one.
A further point to be noted is buckling mode
transition phenomenon. When the load reaches a
certain value, the fundamental buckling mode shape
changes from symmetric shape to anti- symmetric
shape and there exists a critical buckling load point
when the curved beams can buckle in either symmetric
or anti-symmetric shape. The point at this value is
called the mode shape transition point. The variation
of non-dimensional buckling load with respect to k is
presented in Fig. 9 for CC and PP boundary condi-
tions. The length-to-radius L/R are taken by L=R ¼
p=4 in case of clamped ends and L=R ¼ p=7 in case of
pinned ends. It is observed that for CC FG circular
curved beam as shown in Fig. 9a, the mode shape
transition point occurs at (k
value of L/R in case of PP FG circular curved beam in
Fig. 9b, the transition point occurs twice and the
fundamental buckling mode shape is anti-symmetric
when 1\k\4.

123
2542 Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546

3.2.2 Cycloid curved beam 45

Symmetric
Let us consider a Al=ZrO2 cycloid curved beams with
40 Anti-Symmetric
h ¼ p and 2p. Figures 10 and 11 depicts the variation
of non-dimensional buckling load of cycloid curved
beam with respect to the slenderness ratio L/h for CC 35
and PP boundary conditions, respectively. It is clearly

ω
observed from these figures that the fundamental
mode shape is anti-symmetric shape for both cases of 30
isotropic (k ¼ 0) and functionally graded materials
(k ¼ 1). As seen from these figures, the buckling loads
in both case k ¼ 0 and k ¼ 1 are almost the same when 25
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
the beam has slenderness ratio L=h\20. Note that this k
trend only occurs for anti-symmetric mode shape. As (a)
we can see in case k ¼ 1, the buckling load of 24
symmetric mode shape continues to increase signifi-
cantly when L=h\20. Symmetric
21
Anti-Symmetric

3.3 Free vibration analysis

18
In this section, a Al2 O3 =Al FG curved beam is
ω

assumed to be composed of ceramic on top surface

and metal on bottom surface. It means in this case, the
rigidity of the beam becomes lesser as the gradient
index k increases. In order to establish the correctness
of the present approach, the non-dimensional funda-
qffiffiffiffiffi
2 qm
mental frequencies x  ¼ xLh Em of a Al2 O3 =Al FG
straight beam are calculated and compared with the
results by Simsek [5] with clamped-free (CF), CC and
PP boundary conditions in Table 5. The calculation is
carried out with 32 quadratic elements. It should be
noted that [5] studied the free vibration of FG straight
beam within the framework of the first-order shear
deformation beam theory and the frequency equation
is obtained by using Lagrange’s equations. As seen
from Table 5, good agreement is observed.
To further verify the present approach, the valida-
tion is demonstrated on parabolic and elliptic isotropic
aluminum curved beams with various types of
boundary conditions, namely, clamped ends and
pinned ends. 32 quadratic NURBS elements are used
to analyze the first four non-dimensional frequencies
x of the aluminum curved beam where r is the radius
of gyration of the cross-sectional area. In Table 6, the
results obtained from this approach are compared with
those of [29] and [23] in case of parabolic and semi-
elliptic curved beam, respectively. The slenderness
ratio is defined as s=r ¼ 100 for parabolic curved
15
12
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
k
(b)
Fig. 17 The variation of the non-dimensional frequency with
gradient index k of a Al=ZrO2 FG parabolic curved beam for
different boundary conditions: a CC (s=h ¼ 10) and b PP
(s=h ¼ 4)
beam and 2a/r for elliptic curved beam. It is noted that
the results given by [29] obtained by using 16 quintic
NURBS elements meanwhile the results of [23]
obtained by the dynamic stiffness method. From
Table 6, it is seen that the present results are in a
good agreement with those in references.
3.3.1 Elliptic curved beam
The convergence studies are performed with a
Al2 O3 =Al FG semi-elliptic curved beam with clamped
ends are presented. The span-to-thickness 2a/h is
taken as 30. The rates of convergence for the lowest
six non-dimensional frequencies are presented in
Tables 7 and 8 in case of isotropic alumina (k ¼ 0)

123
Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546
Fig. 18 The first six mode (a)
shapes of PP FG parabolic
curved beam when k ¼
2; s=h ¼ 4 and f =s ¼ 0:2
(solid line for deformed
shape and dashed line for
undeformed shape)
(c)
(e)
and functionally graded (k ¼ 1) material distribution,
respectively. The aspect ratio is taken as b=2a ¼ 0:2.
The non-dimensional frequency for the first four
modes of a Al2 O3 =Al FG semi-elliptic curved beam
generated by 16 quintic NURBS element with differ-
ent boundary conditions is shown in Fig. 12. It is seen
from this figure that an increase in the value of power
law index k leads to a decrease in the frequency. This is
due to the fact that the FG curved beam becomes
flexible as the material gradient increases.
The following discussion studies further about the
low-frequency mode transition. The variation of non-
dimensional frequency with material gradient index
k of a Al2 O3 =Al FG semi-elliptic curved beam for
various boundary conditions is depicted in Fig. 13. As
seen in this figure, it is observed that the material
gradient index influences insignificantly on the low-
frequency mode transition for semi-elliptic curved
beam. Figure 14 illustrates the first six mode shapes
for the FG semi-elliptic curved beam with clamped
ends when b=2a ¼ 0:4 and 2a=h ¼ 30 in case of
k ¼ 2.
3.3.2 Parabolic curved beam
The non-dimensional frequency for the first four
modes versus aspect ratio f/s with different values of
material gradient index of Al2 O3 =Al FG parabolic
curved beams for CC and PP boundary conditions are
plotted in Figs. 15 and 16, respectively. The slender-
ness ratio is taken as s=h ¼ 30. In Fig. 17, it is possible
to see the variation of the lowest two non-dimensional
frequency of CC and PP curved beams versus the
2543
(b)
(d)
(f)
gradient index k where the slenderness ratio is taken as
s=h ¼ 10 in case of clamped ends and s=h ¼ 4 in case
of pinned ends. As shown in Fig. 17a, the mode shape
transition point is seen to occur close to k ¼ 10 for CC
FG curved beam meanwhile it is observed to occur
close to k ¼ 1 and 9 in Fig. 17b for PP FG curved
beam. Thus, the vibration mode shape transition of FG
parabolic curved beam is heavily influenced by the
variation of material distribution. Figure 18 illustrates
the first six mode shapes for FG parabolic curved beam
when s=h ¼ 4 and f =s ¼ 0:2. In this case the material
gradient index is taken as k ¼ 2.
4 Conclusion
Isogeometric approach is carried out to investigate
the effect of various parameters on bending, buckling
and free vibration behaviors of FG curved beams
with variable curvatures. The NURBS basis func-
tions are used in representing the geometry and
approximate the unknown field variables due to their
ability to model exactly a wide variety of structures’
geometry. In addition, NURBS basis functions can
provide higher continuity of derivatives than that of
Lagrange interpolation functions that commonly
used in FEM. The order elevation is also achieved
easily without changing the geometry. Several
numerical examples of circular, elliptic, parabolic
and cycloid curved beams with different boundary
conditions are presented to validate the present
approach. Through the analysis, the following con-
clusions are listed as:
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2544 Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546

1. As expected, the maximum deflection of circular bw h3 ðkðk2 þ 3k þ 8ÞEb þ 3ðk2 þ k þ 2ÞEt Þ

and elliptic curved beams decreases correspond- D11 ¼ ;
12ð1 þ kÞð2 þ kÞð3 þ kÞ
ing to the increases of material gradient index in
ð30cÞ
case of FG beams with top metal-rich surface.
When k\1 the deflection decreases significantly. bw hðEt þ kEb Þ
2. The critical buckling load of circular and cycloid A55 ¼ : ð30dÞ
2ð1 þ mÞð1 þ kÞ
curved beams increases with an increase of
gradient index in case of FG beams with metal- Expressions of I0 ; I1 ; I2
rich top. bw hðqt þ kqb Þ
3. The buckling mode transition phenomenon is I0 ¼ ;
ð1 þ kÞ
observed to occur only in case of shallow circular
curved beam when the value of gradient index bw h2 ðqt  qb Þk
I1 ¼ ;
varies. For cycloid curve types, the fundamental 2ð1 þ kÞð2 þ kÞ
mode shape is anti-symmetric for all value of the bw h3 ðkðk2 þ 3k þ 8Þqb þ 3ðk2 þ k þ 2Þqt Þ
I2 ¼ :
slenderness ratio. 12ð1 þ kÞð2 þ kÞð3 þ kÞ
4. In case of FG beams with top ceramic-rich
Appendix 2
surface, an increase in the value of material
gradient index leads to a decrease in the frequency
Explicit forms of element stiffness matrix
for both elliptic and parabolic curve types. 2 11 3
5. For parabolic curved beam, the mode shape K K12 K13
corresponding to the lowest frequency changes 6 7
K ¼4 K21 K22 K23 5;
from symmetric to anti-symmetric with an
K31 K32 K33 ð31aÞ
increase of material gradient index. On the Z Leþ1
contrary, it is observed that no mode shape Kij11 ¼ ðA11 Ni0 Nj0 þ A55 j2 Ni Nj Þdx;
transition point is detected for the elliptic curved Le
beam. Z Leþ1
Kij22 ¼ ðA11 j2 Ni Nj þ A55 Ni0 Nj0 Þdx; ð31bÞ
Acknowledgements This study was funded by a Grant (NRF- Le
2015R1A2A1A01007535) from NRF (National Research Z Leþ1
Foundation of Korea) funded by MEST (Ministry of
Education and Science Technology) of Korean government. Kij33 ¼ ðD11 Ni0 Nj0 þ A55 Ni Nj Þdx; ð31cÞ
Le

Compliance with ethical standards Z Leþ1

Kij12 ¼ ðA11 jNi0 Nj  A55 jNi Nj0 Þdx; ð31dÞ
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no Le
conflict of interest.
Z Leþ1
Kij13 ¼ ðA55 jNi Nj þ B11 Ni0 Nj0 Þdx; ð31eÞ
Le
Appendix 1
Z Leþ1
Expressions of stiffnesses A11 ; B11 ; D11 ; A55 Kij23 ¼ ðA55 Ni0 Nj þ B11 jNi Nj0 Þdx; ð31fÞ
Le
bw hðEt þ kEb Þ Z
A11 ¼ ; ð30aÞ Leþ1
ð1 þ kÞ Kij33 ¼ ðA55 Ni0 Nj þ B11 jNi Nj0 Þdx: ð31gÞ
Le
bw h2 ðEt  Eb Þk
B11 ¼ ; ð30bÞ Explicit forms of element geometric stiffness
2ð1 þ kÞð2 þ kÞ
matrix

123
Meccanica (2017) 52:2527–2546 2545

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6 7 functionally graded Timoshenko and homogeneous Euler–
G ¼4 G21 G 22
0 5; Bernoulli beams. Compos Struct 95:5–9
0 0 0 ð32aÞ 3. Simsek M, Kocaturk T (2009) Free and forced vibration of a
Z functionally graded beam subjected to a concentrated
Leþ1
moving harmonic load. Compos Struct 90(4):465–473
G11
ij ¼ ðj2 Ni Nj Þdx; 4. Kadoli R (2008) Static analysis of functionally graded
Le
beams using higher order shear deformation theory. Appl
Z Leþ1
Math Model 32:2509–2525
5. Simsek M (2010) Fundamental frequency analysis of
G22
ij ¼ Ni0 Nj0 dx; ð32bÞ
functionally graded beams by using different higher-order
Le
beam theories. Nucl Eng Des 240(4):697–705
Z Leþ1 6. Ht Thai, Vo TP (2012) Bending and free vibration of
G12
ij ¼ ðjNi Nj0 Þdx: ð32cÞ functionally graded beams using various higher-order shear
Le deformation beam theories. Int J Mech Sci 62(1):57–66
7. Li XF (2008) A unified approach for analyzing static and
Explicit forms of element mass matrix dynamic behaviors of functionally graded Timoshenko and
2 11 3 Euler–Bernoulli beams. J Sound Vib 318(4–5):1210–1229
M 0 M13 8. Sankar BV (2001) An elasticity solution for functionally
6 7 graded beams. Compos Sci Technol 61(5):689–696
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