Static analysis of FG plates using T-splines based isogeometric approach and a refined plate theory

In this study, a novel refined plate theory (RPT) is developed for the geometrically linear static analysis of FG plates, which is a simplification of the higher-order shear deformation theories (HSDTs). It improves the computational efficiency while preserving the accuracy advantage of HSDTs. The C1-continuity problem is overcome by isogeometric analysis (IGA), which shows more advantages than the C0 elements based finite element analysis. By T-splines, the computational cost is effectively reduced, since compared to NURBS based IGA, T-splines can achieve local refinement and improve the utilization of control points. The rule of mixture with power-law and Mori–Tanaka scheme are adopted to calculate the material properties of the plate. Several numerical experiments are given to prove the efficiency of the proposed method