Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

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Composite Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

On static and free vibration analysis of FGM plates using an efficient

quadrilateral finite element based on DSPM
Irwan Katili a,⇑, Jean-Louis Batoz b, Imam Jauhari Maknun a, Andi Makarim Katili a
a
Universitas Indonesia, Civil Engineering Department, Depok 16424, Indonesia
b
Laboratoire Roberval, Alliance Sorbonne Université-Université de Technologie de Compiègne, CS 60319, 60203 Compiègne Cedex, France

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In the present paper, a shear‐locking free quadrilateral element with 5 DOFs per node, called Q4γs, is developed
FGM using a discrete shear projection method (DSPM). Independent transverse shear strains are formulated using a
RM plate theory tangential coordinate system, and discrete shear strains are applied along each of element sides to get the con-
Q4γs stant shear strains. These constant independent transverse shear strains are projected onto each corner node,
Independent transverse shear strains
and the cartesian shear strain components are interpolated over the element domain with standard bilinear
Finite element
shape functions. The applications of the element in static and free vibration analysis of functionally graded
material plates show good convergence behavior, high reliability, and accuracy.

1. Introduction
In laminated composite structures, two different homogeneous
materials are bonded together to enhance the structures’ mechanical
and thermal properties. Despite the enhancement, a laminated com-
posite structure has a disadvantage, i.e. the presence of stress concen-
trations at the interfaces of the layers that makes the laminates tend to
delaminate when high temperatures are involved. To mitigate these
problems, in 1984, Japanese researchers invented a new type of com-
posite material known as functionally graded materials (FGMs) [1].
The FGM replaces a stepwise gradation of thermo‐mechanical proper-
ties with a continuous varying material properties along the structure’s
thickness. The FGMs have great potential for use in severe conditions,
as they are capable of reducing thermal stresses as well as resisting in
high‐temperature and corrosion environments. These advantages have
made FGMs far better than homogenous composite materials in multi-
ple applications, for instance, as thermal coatings of barriers for bio-
material electronics, ceramic engines, gas turbines, thin optical
layers, etc. Static and vibration analyses of FGM structures play an
important role in engineering practices and FEM is a powerful and reli-
able tool to analyse them.
Three dimension FGM structures often present a particular dimen-
sion (usually the thickness) that is smaller than the two others’. It is
then important to develop particular FEM models for FGM plates and
shells. FSDT (first‐order shear deformation theory) and HSDT
(higher‐order shear deformation theory) based on the RM (Reissner‐
Mindlin) are interesting for the analysis of thin or moderately thick
structures. RM theory are widely known and used to develop finite ele-
ment models due to the simplicity in analysis and programming. The
FSDT models need to take into account shear correction factors to
increase the precision of the transverse shear energy. On the contrary,
HSDT models are avoiding shear correction factors, but alternatively
more degrees of freedom (DOFs) are necessary through the thickness.
Due to the important possible applications of FGM, many researchers
have brought their contribution to the subject [2–22].
Considering the FE analysis of FGM plates, it is important to use
simple but valid and robust elements for a wide range of slenderness
ratio (for example 104 ≤ L/h ≤ 4). In particular, the elements must
be free of shear locking when used in thin plate. In response to that
matter, the ANS (Assumed Natural Strain) proposed by MacNeal
[23] and Hughes and Taylor [24] have been very promising to avoid
shear locking. Dvorkin and Bathe [25–26] proposed the well‐known
MITC4 element (Mixed Interpolation of Tensorial Components), an
effective ANS formulation with 4 nodes, 3 DOFs per node, which
included transverse shear effects.
In 1993 Katili [27–28] proposed the DKMT and DKMQ elements as
an extension of the DKT [29] and DKQ [30] elements to take into
account the transverse shear effects using discrete constraint along
the element sides to define the constant independent transverse shear
strains. DKMT and DKMQ are suitable for thin to thick plates, free of
shear locking, have good convergence properties, and pass the patch
tests.

⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: irwan.katili@eng.ui.ac.id (I. Katili).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.113514
Received 23 November 2020; Accepted 18 December 2020
Available online 29 December 2020
0263-8223/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

Recently, Katili et al. [31–32] published a simple triangular ele- 3. The stress resultants in FGM plates
ment called T3γs using the discrete shear projection method (DSPM)
for isotropic plates. Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are resulting from a mixture
In this paper, the DSPM is used to formulate a quadrilateral element of two materials such as ceramic and metal in which the material prop-
for static and free vibration analysis of Reissner–Mindlin FGM plate erties are gradually varying through the thickness in accordance with a
structures. This quadrilateral plate element, called Q4γs, has 4 nodes power‐law distribution based on the Voigt model (Fig. 1).
and 5 degrees of freedom (three displacements and two rotations) The distribution of elastic properties is such that [33]:
per node. The formulation of Q4γs is the main contribution and novelty
EðzÞ ¼ Ecr V cr ðzÞ þ E mt V mt ðzÞ
of this paper. ð9Þ
ρðzÞ ¼ ρcr V cr ðzÞ þ ρmt V mt ðzÞ
The paper is organized as follows. The internal strain and kinetic
energies are defined in section 2 in the context of FSDT plates with where subscripts cr and mt refer to the material properties of the cera-
membrane bending couple taken into account. The stress resultants mic and the metal, respectively.
in FGM plates are presented in section 3. Then in section 4, we present The volume fraction Vcr and Vmt are given by:
the formulation of the element called Q4γs element based on the  p
V cr ðzÞ ¼ 12 þ hz
DSPM. The convergence behaviour for different meshes is presented ð10Þ
in section 5. Concluding remarks, acknowledgments, and references V mt ðzÞ ¼ 1  V cr ðzÞ
are given at the end. where z is the coordinate in the thickness direction (−h/2 ≤ z ≤ +h/2),
p is the power‐law index p ≥ 0. It can be seen (Fig. 2) that the Vcr varies
2. Variational principle rapidly near the bottom surface for p < 1 and expands swiftly near the
top surface for p > 1. When p = 0, or when p ≈ ∞, the homogeneous
Different variational principles can be proposed to the RM plate material plate (ceramic or metal) is retrieved.
theory, such as the modified Hu‐Washizu principle with independent The axial forces {N} and the bending moments {M} are related to
shear strains. Consider the functional: the membrane strains f e g and curvaturesf χ g [34–38] as:
8 9 8 9 8 9
Π ¼ Πint  Πext ð1Þ
< Nx >
> = < ex >
> = < χx >
> =
where the internal strain energy is: fN g ¼ N y ¼ ½H m  ey þ ½H mb  χy ð11Þ
>
: >
; >
: ; > :χ >
> ;
N xy exy xy
Πint ¼ Πm
int þ Πint þ Πint þ Πint
b mb s
ð2Þ
8 9 8 9 8 9
The membrane energy is: >
< Mx = > < ex >
> = < χx >
> =
Z fM g ¼ My ¼ ½H mb  ey þ ½H b  χy ð12Þ
1 > > > > >
Πm
int ¼ hei½H m feg dA ð3Þ : ; : ; :χ > ;
2 A M xy exy xy

 T With
where the membrane strains feg ¼ heiT ¼ ex ey exy ,
dA ¼ dx  dy is the element area in the x‐y plane.
The bending energy is:
Z
1
Πbint ¼ hχi½H b fχg dA ð4Þ
2 A
 
where the curvatures are hχi ¼ χx χy χxy
The coupling of membrane‐bending energy is:
Z Z
1 1
Πmbint ¼ hei½H mb fχg dA þ hχi½H mb feg dA ð5Þ
2 A 2 A
The transverse shear energy is given by:
Z D E n o Z n o 
1 1
Πsint
¼ γ ½H s  γ dA þ hT i γ  fγg ds ð6Þ
2 A 2 @A Fig. 1. Functionally grade material.
D E D E
where: γ ¼ γx γy are the independent transverse shear strains,
½H s  is the matrix relating the shear forces and the shear strains,
 
hT i ¼ T x T y are the shear forces, and ∂A is the element side.
[Hm], [Hmb], [Hb], and [Hs] for FGM plates will be defined in the
next section.
For static analysis, with distributed load fz, the external energy can
be expressed as:
Z
Πext ¼ w f z dA ð7Þ
A

and w is the vertical displacement in the z‐direction.

For free vibration analysis, the kinetic energy is given by:
R     R    
ΠK ¼ 12 v
u_ þ zβ_ x ρðzÞ u_ þ zβ_ x dV þ 12 v v_ þ zβ_ y ρðzÞ v_ þ zβ_ y dV
R ð8Þ
þ 12 v
_ ðzÞwdV
wρ _

u; v; w are the displacement of the mid‐surface in x, y, z directions;

βx ; βy are the rotations around y and x, respectively; ρ(z) is the mass
density with variation according to the power‐law [33]. Fig. 2. Volume fraction Vcr of functionally graded material.

2
I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

2 3
1 υ 0 initially proposed in 1982 by Hughes and Taylor [24] for a linear tri-
6 7
½H m  ¼ Dm 4 υ 1 0 5 angular element.
0 0 ð1  υÞ=2 ð13Þ The Q4γs element has 4 nodes and 5 degrees of freedom at each
Z h=2  node, i.e., displacement in the x,y, and z‐direction (ui, vi, and wi),
Em h Ecr  Emt
Dm ¼ ð1υ
1
2Þ E ðzÞ dz ¼ ; Em ¼ þ E mt and rotation βxi in the z‐x and βyi in z‐y plane (Fig. 3).
h=2 ð1  υ Þ
2 pþ1
The first order Reissner–Mindlin plate theory takes into account the
2 3 shear deformation through the thickness.
1 υ 0
6 7 The coordinates x and y are expressed as follow
½H mb  ¼ Dmb 4 υ 1 0 5
4 4
0 0 ð1  υÞ=2 x ¼ ∑ N i xi ; y ¼ ∑ N i y i ð21Þ
Z h=2
E mb h2 ð14Þ i¼1 i¼1
Dmb ¼ ð1υ1
2Þ zEðzÞ dz ¼
h=2 2ð1  υ2 Þ From (21) we obtain the Jacobian matrix:
  " #
Emb ¼ ðpþ1Þpðpþ2Þ ðE cr  Emt Þ J 11 J 12 x;ξ y;ξ
½J  ¼ ¼ ð22Þ
2 3 J 21 J 22 x;η y;η
1 υ 0
6 7 and the inverse:
½H b  ¼ Db 4 υ 1 0 5
0 0 ð1  υÞ=2 j11 j12 1 J 22 J 12
Z ½j ¼ ¼ ð23Þ
h=2
Eb h 3 ð15Þ j21 j22 det ½J  J 21 J 11
Db ¼ ð1υ1
2Þ z2 E ðzÞ dz ¼
h=2 12ð1  υ2 Þ x;ξ y;ξ x;η and y;η denote the first derivatives of the geometric func-

3ðp2 þ p þ 2Þ tion x and y with respect to ξ and η, respectively.
Eb ¼ ðE cr  E mt Þ þ E mt
ðp þ 1Þðp þ 2Þðp þ 3Þ The independent displacement u, v, w, and rotation βx and βy are
where Poisson’s ratio υ is assumed to be constant; E(z) is the Young’s given as follow:
modulus varying according to the power‐law (9); [Hm], [Hmb], and 4 4 4

[Hb] are the membrane, bending‐membrane coupling, and bending u ¼ ∑ N i ui ; v ¼ ∑ N i vi ; w ¼ ∑ N i wi ð24Þ

i¼1 i¼1 i¼1
rigidity matrices, respectively. Emt and Ecr are the Young’s modulus
for metal and ceramic, respectively. 4 4
  βx ¼ ∑ N i βxi ; βy ¼ ∑ N i βyi ð25Þ
Similarly, the transverse shear forces hT i ¼ T x T y are related to
D E D E i¼1 i¼1

the independent transverse shear strains γ ¼ γx γy through the where

following equations:
N 1 ¼ 14 ð1  ξÞð1  ηÞ ; N 2 ¼ 14 ð1 þ ξÞð1  ηÞ
( ) ð26Þ
Tx γ N 3 ¼ 14 ð1 þ ξÞð1 þ ηÞ ; N 4 ¼ 14 ð1  ξÞð1 þ ηÞ
¼ ½H s  x ð16Þ
Ty γy
The relationship between membrane strains and nodal variables is
defined as follow:
1 0 8 9 8 9
½ H s  ¼ Ds >
0 1 < ex > = > < u;x > =
Z feg ¼ ey ¼ v;y ¼ ½Bm fun g ð27Þ
h=2
E ðz Þ ð17Þ >
: >
; > : >
;
Ds ¼ κ dz ¼ κGs h exy u;y þ v;x
h=2 2ð1 þ υÞ
 
Gs ¼ 2ð1þυ
1 E cr Emt
þ E mt
where u,x, v,x, u,y, and v,y refer to the first derivatives of u and v with
Þ pþ1
respect to x and y. Introducing (24) into (27), we obtain:
2 3
where [Hs] is the transverse shear matrix; κ is the transverse shear coef- N i ;x 0 0 0 0
ficient to take into account the non‐uniform shear strain distribution 6 N i ;y 0 0 0 ::: 7
½Bm  ¼ 4 ::: 0 5 ð28Þ
through the plate’s thickness.
N i ;y N i ;x 0 0 0 i¼1;2;3;4
For vibration analysis, the mass density varying in z leads to the fol-
lowing quantities: N i ;x , N i ;y , N i ;ξ , and N i ;η denote the first derivative of the shape func-
Z h=2  tion with respect to x, y, ξ, and η, respectively.where
ρ  ρmt
ρm ¼ ρðzÞ dz ¼ cr þ ρmt h ð18Þ
h=2 pþ1 N i ;x ¼ j11 N i;ξ þ j12 N i;η ; N i;y ¼ j21 N i;ξ þ j22 N i;η ð29Þ
Z h=2
ρmb ¼ zρðzÞ dz
h=2
  2
ð19Þ
ρmb ¼ ðpþ1Þpðpþ2Þ ðρcr  ρmt Þ h2

Z h=2
ρb ¼ z2 ρðzÞ dz
h=2
 ð20Þ
3ðp2 þpþ2Þ h3
ρb ¼ ðpþ1Þðpþ2Þðpþ3Þ
ðρcr  ρmt Þ þ ρmt 12

4. Discrete shear projection method for Q4γs element

In this section, we present the Q4γs element, a quadrilateral plate

element developed based on the shear projection method (DSPM) Fig. 3. Q4γs element with 5 degrees of freedom per node.

3
I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

  ( ) ( )
hun i ¼ ::: ui vi wi βxi βy i  i¼1;4 ð30Þ γs γx Ck Sk
k
¼ ½T i  i
with ½T i  ¼ ð40Þ
γs γy Cm Sm
Introducing (27–28) into (3), the membrane energy for an element m i

with the area A is given by: The inverse of (40) gives:

1 ( ) ( )
Πm ¼ hun i½km fun g ð31Þ γx Sm Sk γs
int
2 i
¼ A1i k
γy Cm Ck γs ð41Þ
i m
where the membrane stiffness matrix is:
Z where : Ai ¼ Ck Sm  Cm Sk
½km  ¼ ½Bm T ½H m  ½Bm  dA ð32Þ where Ck, Sk, Cm and Sm are the directional cosines of sides k and m (see
A
Fig. 5) that share a common corner node i.
The relationship between the curvatures and the nodal variables is Using Equation (41), Equation (39) can be written in a compact
defined as follow: form as:
8 9 8 9 ( )
< χx >
> = > < β x ;x >
= n o γx  n o
fχg ¼ χy ¼ β y ;y ¼ ½Bb fun g ð33Þ γ ¼ ¼ Bsγ γs ð42Þ
> > > > γy n
:χ ; : ;
xy β x ; y þ βy ; x
An explicit expression for the shear strain–displacement matrix ½Bsγ 
where βx,x , βy,x , βx,y and βy,y are the first derivatives of βx and βy with for a four nodes quadrilateral element is given by:
respect to x and y.          
Substituting (25) into (33), we obtain: Bsγ ¼ Bsγ1 Bsγ2 Bsγ3 Bsγ4
2 3
0 0 0 N i ;x 0 2 3 2 3
6 ::: 0 0 0 N i ;y    7   6 A1 N 1  A2 N 2 7   6 A2 N 2  A3 N 3 7
S8 S6 S5 S7
½B b  ¼ 4 0 5 ð34Þ Bsγ1 ¼ 4   5 ; Bsγ2 ¼ 4  5
0 0 0 N i ;y N i ;x i¼1;2;3;4
C6
N 2  AC81 N 1 C7
N 3  AC52 N 2 ð43Þ
A2 A3
2 3 2 3
Introducing (33–34) into (4), the bending energy can then be writ-
  6 A3 N 3  A4 N 4 7   6 A4 N 4  A1 N 1 7
S6 S8 S7 S5
ten as follows: Bsγ3 ¼ 4   5 ; Bsγ4 ¼ 4  5
1
C8
A4
N 4  AC63 N 3 C5
A1
N 1  AC74 N 4
Πbint ¼ hun i½kb fun g ð35Þ
2
As w, βx and βy have a linear variation in s on each side i‐j (Fig. 6),
where the bending stiffness matrix is: then:
Z
½kb  ¼ ½Bb T ½H b ½Bb  dA ð36Þ γs ¼ w;s þ βs
A
    ð44Þ
w ¼ 1  Lsk wi þ Lsk wj ; βs ¼ 1  Lsk βsi þ Lsk βsj
Introducing (27–28) and (33–34) into (5), the membrane‐bending
energy coupling for an element with area A is given by Since the shear force and strain are assumed constant on the side,
1   then we define:
Πmb
int ¼ hun i ½kmb  þ ½kmb T fun g ð37Þ Z Lk
2 1
γs ¼ γ ds ð45Þ
leading to the membrane‐bending coupling stiffness: k Lk 0 s
Z
Substituting equations (44) into (45), we obtain:
½kmb  ¼ ½Bm T ½H mb  ½Bb  dA ð38Þ
A 1  1 1
D E γs ¼ wj  wi þ βsi þ βsj ð46Þ
γx γy
k Lk 2 2
The independent shear strains are related to the natural
shear strain components as follows (Fig. 4):
( ) ( )
n o γx 4 γx
γ ¼ ¼ ∑ Ni i
ð39Þ
γy i γy
i

The shear strains are assumed constant along the sides of the ele-
ment (Fig. 4). The shear strains at node i are defined from the projec-
tion of the constant shear strains on the two sides that share node i.
From Fig. 4, we obtained the shear strain at nodes 1 to 4 as follows:

Fig. 5. The direction cosines of side k.

Fig. 4. Shear strains at nodes and constant shear strains on each side of the
element. Fig. 6. Displacement w and rotation βs on each side i-j.

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I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

Table 1
Material properties [4].

Properties Metal Ceramic

Aluminum (Al) Zirconia (ZrO2-1) Zirconia (ZrO2-2) Alumina (Al2O3)

E (GPa) 70 200 151 380

ρ (kg/m3) 2707 5700 3000 3800
υ 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3

For static analysis with distributed load, introducing (24) into (7),
the external energy can be expressed as:
Πext ¼ hun iff n g ð54Þ
where ff n gis the nodal load vector:
 
hf n i ¼    f zi 0 0    i ¼ 1; 4 ð55Þ
Z
f zi ¼ f z N i dA ð56Þ
A

For the free vibration analysis, we have:

Fig. 7. Hard simply supported and clamped square plates. _ 4 _ _ 4 _ _ 4 _
u ¼ ∑ N i ui ; v ¼ ∑ N i vi ; w ¼ ∑ N i wi
i¼1 i¼1 i¼1
ð57Þ
Considering Fig. 5, from (46) we obtain: _ 4 _ _ 4 _
βx ¼ ∑ N i βxi ; βy ¼ ∑ N i βyi
wj  wi 1  
γs ¼ þ Ck βxi þ Sk βyi þ Ck βxj þ Sk βyj ð47Þ i¼1 i¼1
k Lk 2
Introducing (24–25) and (57) into (8), we obtain the kinetic
Applying (47) to all sides, we get: energy:
n o
γs ¼ ½Au fun g ð48Þ 1
n Πeext ¼ hu_ n i½mfu_ n g ð58Þ
2
where: with the following mass matrix:
½Au  ¼ 12 ½ ½Au1  ½Au2  ½Au3  ½Au4   2 3
½m1  0 0 0
2 3 6 0 ½m2  0 0 7
2 3 6 7
0 0  L25 C5 S5 0 0 2
C5 S5 ½m ¼ 6 7 ð59Þ
6 7
L5 4 0 0 ½m3  0 5
60 0 0 0 07 60  L26 S6 7
6 0 C6 7 ½m4 
½Au1  ¼ 6
60
7 ; ½Au2  ¼ 6 7 0 0 0
4 0 0 0 07 5 40 0 0 0 05
2 3
0 0 2
L8
C8 S8 0 0 0 0 0 ρm 0 0 ρmb 0
2 3 6 7
2 3 6 0 ρm 0 0 ρmb 7 Z
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 7
60 0 60 07 ½ mi  ¼ 6
6 0 0 ρm 0 0 77 N i ðξ; ηÞdA ð60Þ
6
2
C6 S6 7
7 6 0 0 0 7 6 7 A
7 ; ½Au4  ¼ 6 7
L6
½Au3  ¼ 6 60 4 ρmb 0 0 ρb 0 5
40 0  L27 C7 S7 5 4 0 2
L7
C7 S7 7
5
0 ρmb 0 0 ρb
0 0 0 0 0 0 0  L28 C8 S8
D E
ð49Þ
hu_ n i ¼  u_ i v_ i w_ i β_ xi β_ yi  ð61Þ
i¼1;4
Introducing (49) into (42), we obtain:
n o   The membrane forces, bending moments, and shear forces are
γ ¼ ½Bs fun g ; ½Bs  ¼ Bsγ ½Au  ð50Þ given by:
8 9
Assuming that <T> is constant on each of element sides, (6) leads < Nx >
> =
n o
to: γ ¼ fγg. Then the transverse shear energy of an element is writ- fN g ¼ N y ¼ ð½H m ½Bm  þ ½H mb ½Bb Þfun g ð62Þ
>
: >
;
N xy
ten as follows:
8 9
1 >
Πsint ¼ hun i½ks fun g ð51Þ < Mx > =
2 fM g ¼ My ¼ ð½H mb ½Bm  þ ½H b ½Bb Þfun g ð63Þ
>
: >
;
where the shear stiffness matrix is: M xy
Z
½ks  ¼ ½Bs T ½H s ½Bs  dA ð52Þ Tx
A fT g ¼ ¼ ½H s ½Bs fun g ð64Þ
Ty
The total stiffness is then:
and the stresses are given by:
½k ¼ ½km  þ ½kb  þ ½kmb  þ ½kmb T þ ½ks  ð53Þ 8 9
< σx >
> =
The stiffness matrix of Q4γs (53) is obtained by using 2 × 2 Gauss
fσg ¼ σy ¼ ½H σ ð½Bm  þ z½Bb Þfun g ð65Þ
integration points. >
: >
;
σxy

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I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

Table 2a
Non-dimensional central displacement wc for SSSS square Al/ZrO2-1 plate (L/h = 5).

Mesh p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=2

N×N Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ

4×4 1.71286 1.71116 2.31907 2.31687 2.71306 2.71055 3.10834 3.10547

8×8 1.71562 1.71505 2.32311 2.32236 2.71784 2.71699 3.11355 3.11260
16 × 16 1.71629 1.71613 2.32409 2.32389 2.71900 2.71877 3.11481 3.11456
32 × 32 1.71645 1.71641 2.32434 2.32428 2.71928 2.71923 3.11512 3.11506
64 × 64 1.71650 1.71649 2.32440 2.32438 2.71936 2.71934 3.11520 3.11519
Lee et al. [18] 1.722 2.403 2.811 3.221
wc ¼ 103  wc Db =f z L4 ; Db ¼ EAl h3 =12ð1  υ2 Þ

Table 2b
Non-dimensional central displacement wc for CCCC square Al/ZrO2-1 plate (L/h = 5).

Mesh p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=2

N×N Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ

4×4 0.75508 0.77592 1.00591 1.03335 1.17426 1.20507 1.35965 1.39376

8×8 0.75900 0.76414 1.01140 1.01817 1.18071 1.18831 1.36688 1.37531
16 × 16 0.75994 0.76122 1.01273 1.01442 1.18227 1.18416 1.36863 1.37073
32 × 32 0.76018 0.76050 1.01306 1.01348 1.18266 1.18313 1.36906 1.36959
64 × 64 0.76024 0.76032 1.01314 1.01325 1.18275 1.18287 1.36917 1.36930
Lee et al. [18] 0.774 1.073 1.207 1.404
wc ¼ 103  wc Db =f z L4 ; Db ¼ EAl h3 =12ð1  υ2 Þ

Fig. 8. Non-dimensional central displacement and moment of Al/ZrO2-1 plate with various ratios L/h.

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I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

τx 5. Numerical simulations
fτg ¼ ¼ ½H τ ½Bs fun g ð66Þ
τy
  For homogeneous plates with RM models, the value of the shear
where hσi ¼ σx σy σxy are the in‐plane stresses and
  correction factor is taken as 5/6. For functionally graded material, this
hτi ¼ τx τy are the shear stresses. The material matrices are given value is no longer appropriate, but it is a function of the ratio between
by: elastic moduli of constituents and the distribution of materials through
2 3
1 υ 0 the models. Nguyen et al. [15] proposed the shear correction coeffi-
E ðzÞ 6 7 cients for the RM models of functionally graded materials by using
½H σ  ¼ 4υ 1 0 5 ð67Þ
ð1  υ2 Þ energy equivalence. It has been studied [15] that the displacement
0 0 ð1  υÞ=2
of thin and medium‐thick plates (L/h > 10) is not affected by the vari-
ation of the shear correction factor. For thick plates (L/h < 10), the
κE ðzÞ 1 0
½H τ  ¼ ð68Þ variation of the shear correction factor is substantial when the ratio
2ð1 þ υÞ 0 1
of elastic moduli Ecr/Emt > 6 and p > 4. In conclusion, for thick plates,

Fig. 9. The convergence of non-dimensional central displacement and moment of isotropic plates (L/h = 1000).

Fig. 10. Mesh distortion of a square isotropic plate with various d values.

7
I. Katili et al.
the modified shear correction factor generate more precise results
compared with the use of the constant shear correction factor κ = 5/6.
However, for simplicity, in this paper we use a constant shear cor-
rection factor κ = 5/6 for ceramic–metal FGM plates. We will assess
the capability of the Q4γs element and investigate the effects of the
power‐law index and the length‐thickness ratio in static and free vibra-
tion analysis.
To study the convergence characteristics of the Q4γs element, we
analyze square plates, skew plates with various angles, and circular
plates and compare the results with those of the DKMQ element and
several other elements from the literature.
Table 1 shows the Young’s modulus and mass density of materials
used in this section; viz. aluminum (Al), zirconia (ZrO2‐1 and ZrO2‐2)
and alumina (Al2O3).
5.1. Square plates
The first test deals with Al/ZrO2‐1 FGM plates subjected to a uni-
form load fz = 1. For hard simply support (SSSS): u = v =
w = βx = 0 along AB, u = v = w = βy = 0 along AD) and clamped
support (CCCC): u = v = w = βx = βy = 0 on AB and AD. The plate’s
length L, and thickness h. Fig. 7 shows the detailed geometric of the
square plates. We only analyse one quarter area ABCD, due to symmet-
rical boundary conditions: u = βx = 0 along BC and v = βy = 0 along
CD, using a uniform mesh N × N (N = 4, 8, 16, 32, 64) with the
power‐law index ranging from 0 to 2.
Using shear correction factor κ = 5/6, L/h = 5 and
Ec/Emt = 2.8571, we report in Table 2a and Table 2b the non‐
dimensional displacements at the centre of the hard simply supported
and clamped plates for different uniform meshes. The results of Q4γs
are compared with the DKMQ [28] and the mesh‐free kp‐Ritz [18],
which uses the discretization of 13 × 13 nodes.
Fig. 11. Non-dimensional central displacement and moment of isotropic plates (L/h = 100) using mesh distortion.
8
Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514
It is observed that the results of both elements agree well with
those of mesh‐free methods [18]. Regarding kp‐Ritz, for the hard sim-
ply supported plate, the difference ranges from 0.3% − 3.3%, while
for the clamped plate, it ranges from 1.8% to 2.5%.
Using 16 × 16 mesh, we next show that the Q4γs and DKMQ ele-
ments can overcome shear‐locking for FGM plates. For hard simply
and clamped Al/ZrO2‐1 plates with varying ratios L/h and power‐
law index p, the numerical results are illustrated in Fig. 8. It is indi-
cated that when the plates become thin, the non‐dimensional central
displacements and bending moments are barely affected by L/h ratio
and the power‐law index.
Fig. 9 shows the convergence of the non‐dimensional displacement
and the normalized moment at the centre of the hard simply and
clamped isotropic plate for L/h = 1000. The Q4γs element is less per-
forming than DKMQ for the central displacement but performs very
well for the evaluation of bending moments.
We also study the sensitivity of the present solutions to mesh distor-
tion by examining square isotropic plates with a 16 × 16 mesh
(Fig. 10). A distortion factor d is used to alter the coordinates of inte-
rior nodes as follow [5]:
xd ¼ xo þ r c Lk d
ð69Þ
y d ¼ y o þ r c Lk d
where r c ∈ ½1; 1 is a random number; d ∈ ½0; 0:5 is a distortion factor;
Lk is the element size in the uniform mesh (d = 0); xd, yd is the new
coordinate nodes in the distorted mesh; xo, yo is the coordinate nodes
in the uniform mesh (d = 0). The shapes of distorted meshes resulting
from d = 0.1; 0.3; 0.5 are shown in (Fig. 10) as illustration. The results
for SSSS and CCCC plates (L/h = 100) are plotted in Fig. 11. They show
the good performance of the Q4γs and DKMQ elements.
Fig. 12 describes the distribution of non‐dimensional axial stress σx
through the thickness under a uniform load fz = −1 with the power‐
I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

Fig. 12. Central axial stress σx = σx h2/(fzL2) of SSSS square Al/ZrO2-1 plate with fz = −1 using Q4γs.

Table 3
The first non-dimensional natural frequency ω of hard simply supported square Al/Al2O3 plate.

L/h N×N p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=4 p = 10

Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ

5 4×4 208.930 208.979 178.520 178.558 161.295 161.331 138.045 138.083 130.798 130.835
8×8 210.634 210.656 179.956 179.975 162.588 162.605 139.177 139.192 131.892 131.906
16 × 16 211.064 211.070 180.318 180.323 162.914 162.919 139.462 139.466 132.167 132.171
32 × 32 211.171 211.173 180.409 180.410 162.996 162.997 139.534 139.535 132.236 132.237
64 × 64 211.198 211.199 180.431 180.432 163.016 163.016 139.552 139.552 132.254 132.254
HSDT [19] 212.10 181.90 164.00 138.30 130.60
kp-Ritz [20] 205.50 175.70 158.70 135.60 128.40
FSDT [21] 211.20 180.50 163.10 139.70 132.40
10 4×4 57.165 57.119 48.539 48.501 43.773 43.743 37.856 37.837 36.211 36.192
8×8 57.560 57.558 48.872 48.871 44.073 44.072 38.119 38.118 36.464 36.464
16 × 16 57.660 57.660 48.957 48.957 44.149 44.149 38.185 38.185 36.528 36.529
32 × 32 57.685 57.685 48.978 48.978 44.168 44.168 38.202 38.202 36.544 36.545
64 × 64 57.691 57.691 48.983 48.983 44.173 44.173 38.206 38.206 36.549 36.549
HSDT [19] 57.77 49.17 44.26 38.11 36.42
kp-Ritz [20] 56.73 48.18 43.46 37.57 35.91
FSDT [21] 57.70 49.00 44.20 38.20 36.60
20 4×4 14.672 14.642 12.433 12.409 11.206 11.186 9.725 9.711 9.331 9.316
8×8 14.768 14.764 12.513 12.511 11.278 11.276 9.788 9.786 9.392 9.391
16 × 16 14.792 14.791 12.534 12.534 11.296 11.296 9.804 9.804 9.408 9.407
32 × 32 14.798 14.798 12.539 12.539 11.301 11.301 9.808 9.808 9.411 9.411
64 × 64 14.799 14.799 12.540 12.540 11.302 11.302 9.809 9.809 9.412 9.412
kp-Ritz [20] 14.64 12.41 11.18 9.70 9.31
FSDT [21] 14.80 12.50 11.30 9.80 9.40
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ω ¼ 103  ωh ρAl2O3 =EAl2O3

law index p = 0, 0.5, 1, 2, and slenderness ratio L/h = 1000 and

L/h = 5. In Al/ZrO2‐1 FGM plates (p ≠ 0), the stress distribution is
non‐linear. The stress magnitude on the top is larger than at the bot-
tom. It is observed that the impact of the length‐to‐thickness ratio on
the stress is not significant.
We now examine the accuracy and efficiency of the Q4γs element
for the analysis of natural frequencies of plates. Let us take into
account a vibration analysis of Al/Al2O3 plate (EAl = 70 GPa,
ρAl = 2707 kg/m3, EAl2O3 = 380 GPa, ρAl2O3 = 3800 kg/m3,
υ = 0.3) with various dimensions L/h, i.e. L/h = 5, 10 and 20.
The simply supported problem has been previously studied by Mat- Fig. 13. Soft simply supported Morley skew plate with skew angle of 30° and
sunaga [19] using HSDT, Zhao et al. [20] who utilized the mesh‐free mesh of 4 × 4.
kp‐Ritz method based on FSDT, and Hosseini‐Hashemi et al. [21] using
an FSDT based analytical approach. The results of these previous
works are used as comparisons in the present study.
The results of the non‐dimensional first frequency for five meshes model [21] while the difference with HSDT of Matzunaga [19] model
are listed in Table 3. We observe that in thick plates (L/h = 5), for ranges from 0.4% to 1.2%. We also observe that Q4γs and DKMQ give
p = 0 to 10, the results are in good agreement with FSDT of Hashemi very similar results.

9
I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

Table 4
Non-dimensional central displacement wc, central principal moments Mc max and
Mc min of soft simply supported (u = v = w = 0) skew isotropic plates under a
uniformly distributed load fz (L/h = 100).

Angle References wc Mc max Mc min

o
15 Q4γs (16 × 16) 0.0362 5.9861 2.6737
Q4γs (32 × 32) 0.0386 6.2485 2.8267
DKMQ (16 × 16) 0.0492 6.6647 3.1784
DKMQ (32 × 32) 0.0422 6.5575 3.0853
Lee et al. [18] 0.0413 – –
DQM [40] 0.0400 6.4150 2.9250
Sengupta [41] 0.0408 6.4650 3.0650
30o Q4γs (16 × 16) 0.3835 18.4545 10.4300
Q4γs (32 × 32) 0.4038 18.9339 10.7558
DKMQ (16 × 16) 0.4405 19.8414 11.6999
DKMQ (32 × 32) 0.4232 19.4779 11.3744
Lee et al. [18] 0.4217 – –
Morley [39] 0.4080 19.1000 10.8000
DQM [40] 0.4130 19.2300 11.1200
Sengupta [41] 0.4181 19.3350 11.2025
45o Q4γs (16 × 16) 1.2829 31.8478 21.4765
Q4γs (32 × 32) 1.3160 32.2470 21.8791
DKMQ (16 × 16) 1.3579 32.8584 22.6597
DKMQ (32 × 32) 1.3392 32.5797 22.3324
Lee et al. [18] 1.3465 – –
DQM [40] 1.3246 32.3450 22.0900
Sengupta [41] 1.3331 32.4875 22.1650
60o Q4γs (16 × 16) 2.5430 42.3972 33.1680
Q4γs (32 × 32) 2.5671 42.6001 33.3826
DKMQ (16 × 16) 2.5821 42.8102 33.7048
DKMQ (32 × 32) 2.5737 42.6778 33.5049
Lee et al. [18] 2.5916 – –
Morley [39] 2.5600 42.5000 33.3000
DQM [40] 2.5641 42.5325 33.3400
Sengupta [41] 2.5019 42.6875 33.4775
75o Q4γs (16 × 16) 3.6362 47.9782 42.6421
Q4γs (32 × 32) 3.6488 48.0644 42.7105
DKMQ (16 × 16) 3.6427 48.1267 42.8051
DKMQ (32 × 32) 3.6435 48.0556 42.6995
DQM [40] 3.6394 47.9675 42.5950
Sengupta [41] 3.6542 48.1025 42.7425

wc = 103 × wc Db/(fzL4); Db = EAlh3/(12(1-υ2))

Mc max = 103 × Mc max/(fzL2); Mc min = 103 × Mc 2
min/(fzL ).

5.2. Skew plates

Skew plates are widely used structural components in aeronautical,

civil, marine, and mechanical engineering applications. Morley [39]
originally studied this kind of plate. As the analytical method has lim-
itations due to the mathematical complexity, several numerical meth-
ods have been proposed to effectively analyze skew plates.
Consider the soft simply supported (u = v = w = 0 on the bound-
Fig. 14. Simply supported Morley’s skew isotropic aluminum plate (α = 30°. ary) skew aluminum plate (EAl = 70 GPa, υ = 0.3) of angle varying
L/h = 100): from 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75° with the length L and the thickness h, sub-

Table 5
Non-dimensional central displacement of soft simply supported Morley’s 30° skew Al/ZrO2-1 plates.

L/h N×N p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=2

Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ

5 16 × 16 0.25190 0.25597 0.33021 0.33559 0.37833 0.38438 0.43268 0.43941

32 × 32 0.25458 0.25556 0.33376 0.33505 0.38235 0.38381 0.43720 0.43882
10 16 × 16 0.17697 0.18109 0.23440 0.23988 0.26752 0.27369 0.30150 0.30831
32 × 32 0.17976 0.18066 0.23812 0.23931 0.27171 0.27307 0.30612 0.30763
20 16 × 16 0.15387 0.15949 0.20472 0.21226 0.23340 0.24184 0.26160 0.27074
32 × 32 0.15741 0.15842 0.20945 0.21082 0.23873 0.24028 0.26746 0.26915
wc ¼ 103  wc Db =f z L4 ; Db ¼ EAl h3 =12ð1  υ2 Þ

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I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

Table 6
The first four non-dimensional frequency ω of simply supported and clamped skew isotropic plates (α = 45°).

soft simply supported clamped

L/h Mode Q4γs DKMQ Zhao [20] Woo [42] Q4γs DKMQ Zhao [20] Woo [42]

1000 1 3.58981 3.49914 3.5705 3.5781 6.67951 6.60429 6.6123 6.6575

2 6.75792 6.72195 6.6945 6.7168 10.91234 10.71882 10.7564 10.8259
3 10.28118 10.17864 10.1389 10.1984 15.27246 14.93492 14.9769 15.2298
4 11.03883 10.77214 10.9869 11.0746 16.07700 15.72043 15.9111 16.1277
5 1 2.73347 2.73144 2.8037 2.8799 4.18435 4.17410 4.1465 4.1622
2 4.73800 4.73324 4.8528 4.7955 5.95943 5.94417 5.8959 5.9043
3 6.48548 6.47855 6.6434 6.5052 7.63612 7.61855 7.5333 7.4729
4 6.86278 6.84893 6.9295 6.9893 7.85547 7.83217 7.7909 7.8007
 2 2  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  
ω ¼ ωL =π  ρh=Db ; Db ¼ EAl h3 =12 1  υ2

Table 7a
The first four non-dimensional frequency parameter ω of soft simply supported skew Al/ZrO2-2 (L/h = 10) with various skew angle α.

α = 30o α = 45o α = 60o α = 75o

p Mode Q4γs DKMQ Zhao [20] Q4γs DKMQ Zhao [20] Q4γs DKMQ Zhao [20] Q4γs DKMQ Zhao [20]

0 1 16.382 16.343 16.597 9.461 9.454 9.6709 6.902 6.902 7.088 5.845 5.847 6.007
2 26.512 26.443 26.978 17.638 17.615 17.964 14.300 14.290 14.547 13.179 13.174 13.395
3 36.425 35.296 35.962 25.364 25.328 24.985 18.882 18.850 19.155 15.116 15.103 15.358
4 46.013 44.805 45.463 26.976 26.883 27.259 21.642 21.632 22.152 20.474 20.475 20.979
0.5 1 14.890 14.855 14.967 8.593 8.587 8.7115 6.267 6.267 6.3816 5.307 5.309 5.4074
2 24.048 23.985 24.366 15.965 15.944 16.202 12.927 12.918 13.114 11.904 11.900 12.073
3 32.158 32.040 32.519 22.980 22.947 23.014 17.040 17.012 17.28 13.641 13.631 13.846
4 40.877 40.688 41.158 24.353 24.972 24.618 19.588 19.579 19.993 18.521 18.522 18.929
1 1 14.402 14.254 14.261 8.248 8.242 8.3025 6.016 6.016 6.0827 5.095 5.097 5.1543
2 23.990 22.929 23.209 15.254 15.235 15.437 12.345 12.337 12.496 11.362 11.358 11.505
3 30.725 30.613 30.968 21.949 21.917 21.907 16.235 16.209 16.463 13.005 12.995 13.193
4 39.026 38.846 39.188 23.182 23.108 23.449 18.702 18.693 19.046 17.677 17.678 18.034
3 1 13.553 13.521 13.512 7.839 7.833 7.884 5.722 5.722 5.7817 4.847 4.849 4.901
2 21.722 21.664 21.927 14.447 14.428 14.622 11.702 11.695 11.849 10.773 10.769 10.913
3 28.968 28.863 29.191 20.742 20.711 20.056 15.363 15.339 15.588 12.321 12.312 12.507
4 36.714 36.548 36.859 21.887 21.818 22.153 17.688 17.680 18.019 16.722 16.722 17.067
  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ω ¼ ωL2 =h  ρZrO2-2 =E ZrO2-2

Table 7b
The first four non-dimensional frequencies ω of clamped skew Al/ZrO2-2 plates (L/h = 10) with various angle α.

α = 30° α = 45° α = 60° α = 75°

p Mode Q4γs DKMQ Zhao[20] Q4γs DKMQ Zhao [20] Q4γs DKMQ Zhao [20] Q4γs DKMQ Zhao[20]

0 1 27.898 27.652 27.502 16.785 16.707 16.635 12.312 12.280 12.2116 10.393 10.376 10.308
2 37.812 37.430 37.352 25.438 25.291 25.275 20.463 20.390 20.349 18.637 18.589 18.539
3 46.861 46.352 46.061 33.616 33.417 33.377 25.550 25.437 25.452 20.834 20.773 20.75
4 55.323 55.323 54.961 35.330 35.075 35.182 28.355 28.258 28.226 26.520 26.462 26.398
0.5 1 25.318 25.096 24.973 15.183 15.114 15.047 11.121 11.093 11.029 9.382 9.367 9.3043
2 34.366 34.020 33.944 23.053 22.921 22.902 18.518 18.453 18.413 16.855 16.812 16.765
3 42.625 42.162 41.89 30.497 30.317 30.274 23.140 23.038 23.047 18.849 18.794 18.771
4 50.894 50.473 50.002 32.061 31.831 31.921 25.690 25.603 25.568 24.013 23.962 23.899
1 1 24.119 23.913 23.789 14.468 14.404 14.338 10.599 10.572 10.511 8.941 8.928 8.867
2 32.731 32.409 32.325 21.961 21.839 21.816 17.644 17.583 17.542 16.060 16.020 15.973
3 40.592 40.161 39.887 29.048 28.881 28.833 22.044 21.950 21.954 17.959 17.908 17.883
4 48.400 48.054 47.587 30.536 30.322 30.399 24.473 24.391 24.354 22.876 22.828 22.765
3 1 22.624 22.438 22.315 13.646 13.587 13.523 10.021 9.997 9.9388 8.464 8.451 8.394
2 30.617 30.330 30.238 20.645 20.534 20.509 16.627 16.571 16.531 15.150 15.114 15.069
3 37.913 37.531 37.258 27.254 27.104 27.054 20.744 20.658 20.659 16.930 16.884 16.859
4 44.344 44.337 44.042 28.633 28.440 28.505 23.012 22.939 22.902 21.532 21.488 21.429
 2  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ω ¼ ωL =h  ρZrO2-2 =EZrO2-2

jected to a uniform load fz = 1 as shown in Fig. 13. For comparison
with several available results, uniform meshes of 16 × 16 and
32 × 32 are exploited.
Table 4 presents the non‐dimensional central displacement and the
principal central moments of soft simply supported (u = v = w = 0)
skew isotropic plates under a uniformly distributed load fz
(L/h = 100) with various skew angles α. The results of the Q4γs and
DKMQ elements indicate great consistency compared with those of
other cited methods from the literature [18,39,40,41].
The values of the central displacement and principal moments are
depicted in Fig. 14. It can be observed that the Q4γs and DKMQ ele-
ments show remarkably excellent performance.
The results of the non‐dimensional central displacement of soft sim-
ply supported Morley’s 30° skew Al/ZrO2‐1 plate for the ratio L/h var-
ies from 5 to 20 and power index p varies from 0 to 2 are shown in
Table 5. We can observe that the results of Q4γs and DKMQ are similar.
Table 6 shows the frequencies of the first four modes for soft simply
and clamped skew isotropic plates using 32 × 32 mesh with the skew

11
I. Katili et al.
Fig. 15. Distribution of central axial stress σx = σx h2/(fzL2) of soft simply supported Al/ZrO2-1 plate subjected to uniform load fz = −1 × 10-6 (with p = 0, 0.5, 1
and 2).
angle α = 45°. We observe, for L/h = 1000 (thin plate) and L/h = 5
(thick plate), that the results are in good agreement with those of [20]
and [42].
Tables 7a and 7b show the frequencies of the first four modes for
soft simply supported and clamped skew functionally graded
Al/ZrO2‐2 plates (L/h = 10) using 16 × 16 mesh, with power‐law
index p ranging from 0 to 3, and skew angle varying from 30° to
75°. It is observed that, for plates with a fixed power‐law index, the fre-
quencies in all four modes drop with the rising of the skew angle,
whereas for plates with a predetermined skew angle, the frequencies
gradually drop as the power‐law index increases.
Now we examine the distribution of the axial stress in the thickness
direction for soft simply supported skew Al/ZrO2‐1 plate with the skew
angle α = 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75° and length‐to‐thickness ratio
L/h = 100, under a uniform load fz = −1 × 10‐6. Fig. 15 shows the
non‐dimensional axial stress with of Al/ZrO2‐1 (EAl = 70 GPa, EZrO2‐
1 = 200 GPa, υ = 0.3) with p = 0, 0.5, 1 and 2. It is observed that
the axial stress increases when the skew angle increases. Again, note that
the present results are in good agreement with those given in [18].
Fig. 16 illustrates the first four modes. It is seen that the frequencies
are reducing when the power index is increasing.
The first eight mode shapes of soft simply supported skew Al/ZrO2‐
2 plate for L/h = 10, p = 2, and α = 45° are given in Fig. 17.
5.3. Circular plate
Let us consider a circular ceramic–metal Al/ZrO2‐1 (EAl = 70 GPa,
EZrO2‐1 = 200 GPa, υ = 0.3) plate with soft simply and clamp sup-
ported conditions subjected to a uniform load. The one quarter ABC
12
Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514
is partitioned into 3 zones, each of which comprises of N × N ele-
ments. Fig. 18 shows the detailed geometry and mesh with
2 × 2 × 3 elements. The power law index ranges from 0 to 2. For soft
simply supported: u = v = w = 0 along BC and for clamped supported
u = v = w = βx = βy = 0 along BC; for symmetric conditions we
apply u = βx = 0 along AC and v = βy = 0 along AB.
The convergence behaviours of Q4γs and DKMQ elements are stud-
ied with different meshes N = 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 and 2R/h = 5, 10
and 20.
We report in Table 8a and Table 8b the non‐dimensional displace-
ments at the centre of the soft simply and clamp supported plates for
different uniform meshes. For both types of boundary conditions and
different values of p, the results using Q4γs and DKMQ are practically
the same for 2R/h = 5, 10, 20.
The first five non‐dimensional natural frequencies of Al/Al2O3 FGM
circular plate (EAl = 70 GPa, ρAl = 2707 kg/m3, EAl2O3 = 380 GPa,
ρAl2O3 = 3800 kg/m3, υ = 0.3) are given in Table 9a (soft simply sup-
ported plate) and Table 9b (clamped support) with 2R/h = 5, 10 and
20 according to power law index p from 0 to 2, and with various
meshes ranging from 4 × 4 × 3 to 64 × 64 × 3.
Fig. 19 shows the natural frequency of the first four modes of
clamped circular Al/Al2O3 plate (L/h = 10), with 16 × 16 × 3 mesh,
and varying p = 0, 0.5, 1, 2. It is observed that the Q4γs solutions
match well with the DKMQ ones.
The convergence of finite element formulation is commonly
defined by using displacements or stresses at one particular point of
the structure as a function of mesh refinement. However, by utilizing
that method, we only acquire partial information regarding the
convergence.
I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

Fig. 16. Non-dimensional frequency ω of soft simply supported and clamped skew Al/ZrO2-2 plates (L/h = 10).

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I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

Fig. 17. First eight mode shapes of soft simply supported skew Al/ZrO2-2 plate (p = 2, L/h = 10, α = 45°).

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I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

The uniform and optimal convergences of the elements can be

assessed using the error in the energy norm. In this paper, to evaluate
the behaviour of whole structure, the error in the energy norm is con-
sidered with the power‐law index p = 0 and p = 2.
The relative error in the energy norm is defined as follows:
2 2 2
k eFE k k ΠRef
int k  k Πint k
FE
ER ¼ 2
¼ 2
ð70Þ
k ΠRef
int k k ΠRef
int k

where:
2
k ΠRef
int k refers to the strain energy of the reference solution, which
can be defined by using a very fine mesh with performing elements.
Fig. 18. Soft simply supported and clamped circular plate.

Table 8a
The non-dimensional central displacemen twc for soft simply supported Al/ZrO2-1 circular plate.

2R/h N p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=2

Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ

5 4 1.6359 1.6379 2.2182 2.2209 2.5956 2.5986 2.9709 2.9741

8 1.6416 1.6421 2.2260 2.2266 2.6047 2.6054 2.9812 2.9820
16 1.6430 1.6431 2.2279 2.2281 2.6069 2.6071 2.9838 2.9840
32 1.6434 1.6434 2.2284 2.2284 2.6075 2.6075 2.9844 2.9845
64 1.6435 1.6435 2.2285 2.2285 2.6076 2.6076 2.9846 2.9846
10 4 1.4489 1.4514 1.9795 1.9828 2.3185 2.3223 2.6408 2.6450
8 1.4542 1.4548 1.9868 1.9876 2.3271 2.3280 2.6505 2.6515
16 1.4555 1.4557 1.9886 1.9888 2.3292 2.3294 2.6530 2.6532
32 1.4559 1.4559 1.9890 1.9891 2.3297 2.3298 2.6536 2.6536
64 1.4560 1.450 1.9891 1.9892 2.3299 2.3299 2.6537 2.6537
20 4 1.4021 1.4050 1.9198 1.9236 2.2493 2.2535 2.5583 2.5630
8 1.4074 1.4080 1.9269 1.9278 2.2577 2.2586 2.5679 2.5689
16 1.4087 1.4088 1.9287 1.9290 2.2598 2.2600 2.5702 2.5705
32 1.4090 1.4090 1.9292 1.9292 2.2603 2.2603 2.5708 2.5709
64 1.4091 1.4091 1.9293 1.9293 2.2604 2.2604 2.5710 2.5710
wc ¼ 103  wc Db =f z L4 ; Db ¼ E Al h3 =12ð1  υ2 Þ

Table 8b
The non-dimensional central displacement wc for clamped Al/ZrO2-1 circular plate.

2R/h N p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=2

Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ

5 4 0.5905 0.5925 0.7858 0.7885 0.9172 0.9202 1.0627 1.0660

8 0.5915 0.5920 0.7871 0.7877 0.9187 0.9194 1.0645 1.0653
16 0.5917 0.5918 0.7874 0.7876 0.9190 0.9192 1.0649 1.0651
32 0.5918 0.5918 0.7875 0.7875 0.9191 0.9192 1.0650 1.0651
64 0.5918 0.5918 0.7875 0.7875 0.9191 0.9192 1.0650 1.0651
10 4 0.4035 0.4060 0.5470 0.5504 0.6401 0.6438 0.7327 0.7368
8 0.4041 0.4047 0.5479 0.5487 0.6411 0.6420 0.7338 0.7348
16 0.4043 0.4044 0.5481 0.5483 0.6413 0.6415 0.7341 0.7343
32 0.4043 0.4043 0.5481 0.5482 0.6414 0.6414 0.7341 0.7342
64 0.4043 0.4043 0.5481 0.5481 0.6414 0.6414 0.7342 0.7342
20 4 0.3567 0.3596 0.4874 0.4911 0.5708 0.5750 0.6502 0.6548
8 0.3573 0.3579 0.4881 0.4889 0.5717 0.5726 0.6511 0.6522
16 0.3574 0.3575 0.4882 0.4884 0.5719 0.5721 0.6514 0.6516
32 0.3574 0.3575 0.4883 0.4883 0.5719 0.5720 0.6514 0.6515
64 0.3574 0.3574 0.4883 0.4883 0.5719 0.5719 0.6514 0.6515
wc ¼ 103  wc Db =f z L4 ; Db ¼ E Al h3 =12ð1  υ2 Þ

Table 9a
The first five non-dimensional frequencies ω for soft simply supported circular Al/Al2O3 plate.

2R/h N p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=2

Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ

5 4 212.5449 212.3648 181.3264 181.1811 163.6750 163.5567 148.2765 148.1616

8 212.9196 212.8752 181.6455 181.6097 163.9618 163.9327 148.5147 148.4914
16 213.0158 213.0047 181.7273 181.7184 164.0354 164.0282 148.5810 148.5752
32 213.0399 213.0372 181.7479 181.7457 164.0539 164.0521 148.5977 148.5962
64 213.0460 213.0453 181.7531 181.7525 164.0586 164.0581 148.6018 148.6015

(continued on next page)

15
I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

Table 9a (continued)
2R/h N p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=2
Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ

10 4 57.7010 57.6332 48.9700 48.9161 44.1491 44.1051 40.0931 40.0572

8 57.8071 57.7905 49.0600 49.0469 44.2301 44.2194 40.1665 40.1578
16 57.8343 57.8302 49.0831 49.0799 44.2509 44.2482 40.1854 40.1832
32 57.8412 57.8401 49.0889 49.0881 44.2561 44.2555 40.1901 40.1896
64 57.8429 57.8426 49.0904 49.0902 44.2574 44.2573 40.1913 40.1912
20 4 14.7736 14.7537 12.5171 12.5014 11.2805 11.2677 10.2528 10.2424
8 14.8011 14.7964 12.5404 12.5367 11.3016 11.2985 10.2719 10.2695
16 14.8082 14.8070 12.5464 12.5455 11.3070 11.3062 10.2768 10.2762
32 14.8099 14.8096 12.5479 12.5477 11.3083 11.3081 10.2781 10.2779
64 14.8104 14.8103 12.5483 12.5482 11.3087 11.3086 10.2784 10.2784
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ω ¼ 103  ωh ρAl2O3 =EAl2O3

Table 9b
The first five non-dimensional frequencies ω for clamped circular Al/Al2O3 plate.

2R/h N p=0 p = 0.5 p=1 p=2

Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ Q4γs DKMQ

5 4 362.3616 361.5222 314.1599 313.4542 285.8707 285.2849 258.8082 258.3397

8 362.5444 362.3377 314.3045 314.1309 286.0015 285.8574 258.9361 258.8208
16 362.5932 362.5417 314.3434 314.3002 286.0368 286.0009 258.9704 258.9417
32 362.6055 362.5927 314.3533 314.3425 286.0458 286.0368 258.9792 258.9720
64 362.6086 362.6054 314.3558 314.3531 286.0480 286.0458 258.9813 258.9795
10 4 112.0185 111.5707 95.6975 95.3352 86.5331 86.2356 78.5325 78.2907
8 111.9779 111.8697 95.6596 95.5721 86.4983 86.4264 78.5026 78.4441
16 111.9692 111.9424 95.6514 95.6297 86.4907 86.4729 78.4961 78.4816
32 111.9670 111.9604 95.6494 95.6440 86.4889 86.4845 78.4946 78.4909
64 111.9666 111.9649 95.6489 95.6475 86.4884 86.4873 78.4942 78.4933
20 4 30.1233 29.9705 25.5723 25.4507 23.0656 22.9664 20.9594 20.8784
8 30.0990 30.0633 25.5514 25.5230 23.0467 23.0235 20.9423 20.9234
16 30.0934 30.0847 25.5465 25.5396 23.0423 23.0367 20.9384 20.9337
32 30.0920 30.0899 25.5454 25.5436 23.0412 23.0398 20.9374 20.9363
64 30.0917 30.0911 25.5451 25.5446 23.0410 23.0406 20.9372 20.9369
p ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ω ¼ 103  ωh ρAl2O3 =EAl2O3

Fig. 19. Non-dimensional frequency ω of clamped circular Al/Al2O3 plate versus power index p (2R/h = 10).

16
I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

Fig. 20a. Convergence behaviour of soft simply supported circular Al/ZrO2-1 plates (p = 0 and p = 2).

Z
Here, as a reference, we use the DKMQ element with NELT = 256 × 2 1
k ΠFE
int ke ¼ hun i½kfun g dA ð74Þ
256 × 3. We have: 2 A

2
NELT
2 The error in the energy norm is characterized by plotting curves
k ΠRef
int k ¼ ∑ k Πint ke
Ref
ð71Þ Log of ER. in terms of Log of Lk, where Lk represents an indicator of
1
the element size in a mesh (in this paper, Lk is an average element size
Z
2 1 of quadrilateral element). In Fig. 20a and Fig. 20b, we report the
k ΠRef
int ke ¼ hun i½kfun g dA ð72Þ
2 A results of the error in the energy norm for extreme values of 2R/h,
2
i.e., 2R/h = 4 and 104 using Q4γs and DKMQ. We use N × N × 3
k ΠFE
int k refers to the finite element model for a given mesh meshes with N = 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. For both thick and thin plates,
NELT = N × N × 3 (N = 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64) the elements are rapidly converging to the exact solution. We found
2
NELT
2
that for thick plates (2R/h = 4), the Q4γs results match those of DKMQ
k ΠFE
int k ¼ ∑ k Πint ke
FE
ð73Þ (Fig. 20a and Fig. 20b). This result proves the asymptotic equivalence
1
between DKMQ and Q4γs elements. Theoretically, when the plate

17
I. Katili et al.
Fig. 20b. Convergence behaviour of clamped circular Al/ZrO2-1 plate (p = 0 and p = 2).
becomes very thin, the shear effects will decrease. It is found here that
both elements are free from shear‐locking. For thin plates, DKMQ pre-
sents a slightly smaller error than the Q4γs. Fig. 20a shows the asymp-
totic convergence behaviour between Q4γs and DKMQ for simply
supported isotropic and FGM plates.
6. Concluding remarks
An efficient Q4γs element for the analysis of FGM plate structures
has been developed based on the first‐order shear deformation theory.
The discrete shear projection method (DSPM) is utilized to avoid the
shear locking phenomenon. The detailed formulation of the stiffness
matrix of Q4γs, taking into account membrane, bending, membrane‐
bending coupling, and transverse shear effects is presented. The ele-
ment is valid for thin to thick plates for uniform and distorted meshes.
The element performance for static and free vibration analyses of
FGM plates with various power‐law index p has been studied, and
18
Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514
the results show that Q4γs is efficient for modelling FGM plates and
should be further developed for the analysis of FGM shells.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The financial supports from Universitas Indonesia through the
PUTI international collaboration Scheme program (Grant No. NKB‐
780/UN2.RST/HKP.05.00/2020) and from Indonesian Ministry of
Education and Culture (DIKTI) through the World Class Professor pro-
gram (WCP scheme B Grant No.101.15/E4.3/KU/2020) are gratefully
acknowledged.
I. Katili et al. Composite Structures 261 (2021) 113514

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