Analytical solution for bending of moderately thick radially functionally graded sector plates with general boundary conditions using multi-term extended Kantorovich method

An analytical solution for bending of radially functionally graded (RFG) sector plates is presented using multi-term extended Kantorovich method (MTEKM). Utilizing the principle of minimum total potential energy the governing equations are derived based on a first-order shear deformation theory and converted into two sets of coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs) using MTEKM. Next, the derived sets of ODEs are solved analytically by the application of state-space method. Various examples are investigated by the present method and also solid sector plates are studied as special cases. Results of the present method are compared to those obtained by finite element method (FEM) and also available published works in the literature. It is found that the method proposed here exhibits a high convergence rate as well as presenting accurate results in all cases. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.