Free Vibration Analysis of Functionally Graded Moderately Thick Annular Sector Plates Using Differential Quadrature Method

In this paper, the free vibration of moderately thick annular sector plates made of functionally graded materials is studied using the Differential Quadrature Method (DQM). The material properties of the functionally graded plate are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness, according to a power-law distribution. The governing differential equations of motion are derived based on the First order Shear Deformation plate Theory (FSDT) and then solved numerically using DQM under different boundary conditions. The results for the isotropic plates which are derivable with this approach are presented and compared with the literature and they are in good agreement. The natural frequencies of the functionally graded moderately thick annular sector plates under various combinations of clamped, simple supported and free boundary conditions are presented for the first time. The effects of boundary conditions, sector angle, radius ratio, thickness to outer radius ratio, volume fraction exponent and variation of the Poisson’s ratio on the free vibration behavior of the plate are studied