Article

Mathematical and Physical Analyses of Middle/Neutral

Surfaces Formulations for Static Response of Bi-Directional FG
Plates with Movable/Immovable Boundary Conditions
Ammar Melaibari 1, Salwa A. Mohamed 2, Amr E. Assie 3,4, Rabab A. Shanab 2 and Mohamed A. Eltaher 1,4,*

1 Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 80204,
Saudi Arabia
2 Engineering Mathematics Department, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt

3 Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Jazan University, Jazan P.O. Box 45142,

Saudi Arabia
4 Mechanical Design and Production Department, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University,

P.O. Box 44519, Zagazig 44519, Egypt

* Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +966-565518613 or +20-1001089561

Abstract: This article is prompted by the existing confusion about correctness of responses of beams
and plates produced by middle surface (MS) and neutral surface (NS) formulations. This study
mathematically analyzes both formulations in the context of the bending of bi-directional function-
ally graded (BDFG) plates and discusses where the misconceptions are. The relation between in-
plane displacement field variables on NS and on MS are derived. These relations are utilized to
define a modified set of boundary conditions (BCs) for immovable simply supported plates that
enables either formulation to apply fixation conditions on the refence plane of the other formulation.
A four-variable higher order shear deformation theory is adopted to present the displacement fields
of BDFG plates. A 2D plane stress constitution is used to govern stress–strain relations. Based on
MS and NS, Hamilton’s principles are exploited to derive the equilibrium equations which are de-
scribed by variable coefficient partial differential equations. The governing equations in terms of
Citation: Melaibari, A.; Mohamed,
stress resultants are discretized by the differential quadrature method (DQM). In addition, analyti-
S.A.; Assie, A.E.; Shanab, R.A.;
Eltaher, M.A. Mathematical and
cal expressions that relate rigidity terms and stress resultants associated with the two formulations
Physical Analyses of Middle/Neutral are proved. Both the theoretical analysis and the numerical results demonstrate that the responses
Surfaces Formulations for Static of BDFG plates based on MS and NS formulations are identical in the cases of clamped BCs and
Response of Bi-Directional FG Plates movable simply supported BCs. However, the difference in responses of immovable simply sup-
with Movable/Immovable Boundary ported BCs is expected since each formulation assumes plate fixation at different planes. Further,
Conditions. Mathematics 2023, 11, 2. numerical results show that the responses of immovable simply supported BDFG plates obtained
https://doi.org/10.3390/ using the NS formulation are identical to those obtained by the MS formulation if the transferred
math11010002 boundary condition (from NS- to MS-planes) are applied. Theoretical and numerical results demon-
Academic Editor: Fernando Simoes strate also that both MS and NS formulations are correct even for immovable simply supported BCs
if fixation constraints at different planes are treated properly.
Received: 23 November 2022
Revised: 9 December 2022
Keywords: movable/immovable boundary conditions; middle and neutral surfaces; static analysis
Accepted: 16 December 2022
of BDFG plates; four-variable high shear deformation theory; differential quadrature method
Published: 20 December 2022

MSC: 74G15

Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Li-

censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and con- 1. Introduction
ditions of the Creative Commons At-
tribution (CC BY) license (https://cre- In comparison to conventional materials which have homogenous microstructures,
ativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). functionally graded materials (FGMs) have heterogeneous constituents and their proper-
ties vary continuously along spatial direction(s) [1]. FGMs can be designed to achieve the

Mathematics 2023, 11, 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/math11010002 www.mdpi.com/journal/mathematics

Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 2 of 28

required mechanical, thermal, electrical, and magnetic properties by grading their constit-
uents with suitable metal/ceramics materials. FGM was originated during the space-plane
project in Japan, 1984 [2]. Currently, FGMs are used in many real applications such as
aerospace, biomechanics, medical devices [3], marine, heat exchanger [4], MEMS and
NEMS [5], shape memory alloys, thin films, and AFM [6].
In some applications such as aerospace craft, nuclear and shuttles, distributions of
the stress or thermal field in the structural elements of such advanced machines can be in
two or three directions, and thus, the conventional 1D FGMs are not sufficient. As a con-
sequence, there is a need for multi-directional FGMs [7]. Nemat-Alla [8] proposed a 2D
(two directional) FGM which withstands super-high temperatures and gives more reduc-
tion in thermal stress. Lu et al. [9] exploited the state space-based differential quadrature
method to derive semi-analytical 3D elasticity solutions for multi-directional orthotropic
FG plates. Pan [10] developed an enriched improved complex variable element-free Ga-
lerkin method for efficient fracture analysis of orthotropic materials. Esmaeilzadeh et al.
[11,12] exploited the dynamic relaxation method in analyzing the dynamic of stiffened 2D
FG porous plates under a moving load. Do et al. [13] exploited a non-uniform rational B-
spline basis function for describing material distribution varying through 3D FG plates
and used natural frequency or buckling load as the objective function for maximization.
Ghatage et al. [14] presented an exhaustive review on modelling and analysis of multi-
directional FG beam/plate/shell structures.
Chen et al. [15] studied the nonlinear forced vibration of the bi-directional function-
ally graded (BDFG) plate with global and localized geometrical imperfections by using
the pseudo-arclength continuation technique. Li et al. [16] studied buckling and post-
buckling performance of variable stiffness composite plates with cutouts via classical plate
theory with the nonlinear von Karman strain. Luo et al. [17] presented buckling analysis
of variable stiffness composite plates with elliptical cutouts using an efficient radial basis
point interpolation method based on a naturally stabilized nodal integration scheme. Ka-
ramanli et al. [18] developed a finite element model to study the mechanical responses of
multi-directional FG strain gradient microplates using a quasi-3D shear theory. Assie et
al. [7] developed a computational model based on unified higher order shear theories to
evaluate the static buckling of BDFG porous plates resting on elastic foundation based on
unified shear theories.
The mid-surface and neutral surface overlay in a homogeneous isotropic plate, while
it is the case for the FGMs plate, is not in this case because material properties are graded
through the thickness [19]. Hence, there is a strong scientific need to reexamine behaviors
of FG structures about the undeformed neutral plane [20–22]. The concept of neutral sur-
face that was employed for many analyses leads to more accurate formulation and nu-
merical results [23]. In 2008, Zhang and Zhou [24] derived the governing equations of a
FGM thin rectangular plate based on the physical neutral surface and classical laminated
plate theory. Zhang [25] studied post-buckling, nonlinear bending and vibration of FGM
plates based on a physical neutral surface and high order shear deformation theory. Han
et al. [26] and Benferhat et al. [27] examined dynamic instability of the FGM plate on an
elastic medium based on the exact neutral surface position. Barati and Shahverdi [28] pre-
sented an analytical solution for thermo-mechanical vibration of FG nanoplates under
uniform, linear and non-linear temperature rise considering a neutral surface. Farzam-
Rad et al. [29] developed a simple quasi-3D shear theory in analyzing a static and free
vibration response of FG sandwich plates by using the isogeometric analysis and physical
neutral surface. Arefi et al. [23] exploited two-variable sinusoidal shear deformation the-
ory in analyzing the free vibration of a sandwich piezo-elastic nonlocal nanoplate incor-
porating the neutral surface effect. Lie et al. [30] exploited classical plate theory with the
von Karman strain to model large amplitude vibration of matrix cracked hybrid laminated
plates containing CNTR-FG layers. Zarastvand et al. [31] presented a comprehensive re-
view on the prediction of acoustic wave transmission features of the multilayered plate.
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 3 of 28

Ghafouri et al. [32] studied the influence of a 3D re-entrant auxetic core on the sound
propagation of 3D sandwich panels.
Hashemi and Jafari [33] investigated the nonlinear free and forced vibrations of a 2D-
FG plate with temperature-dependent properties. Ali and Azam [19] derived an exact so-
lution for the free vibration of a porous FG plate considering a neutral surface using the
dynamic stiffness method. Babaei and Eslami [34] studied the nonlinear bending of infi-
nite length porous FG cylindrical panels subjected to uniform temperature rise and trans-
verse pressure loading. Tati [35] presented a finite element model to explore the bending
behavior of FG plates. She et al. [36] developed an exact wave propagation solution of a
FG circular plate via the physical neutral surface using Laplace integral transformation.
Singh et al. [37] investigated analytically the low-frequency range vibroacoustic response
of mode-localized thin FG plates using a physical neutral surface. Peng et al. [38] studied
the static and free vibration of the stiffened FGM plate resting on Pasternak foundation
by using the moving Kriging approximation and the physical neutral surface. Cuong-Le
et al. [39] explored the mechanical response of a sigmoid functionally graded nanoplate
via nonlocal strain gradient elasticity theory and an isogeometric numerical solution con-
sidering a neutral surface. Kamiński [40] illustrated the sensitivity and randomness in ho-
mogenization of periodic fiber-reinforced composites via the response function method.
Guminiak and Kamiński [41] studied an application of the stochastic boundary element
methods implemented due to three different probabilistic approaches to analyze stability
of the rectangular thin elastic and isotropic plates.
Various studies have applied both mid-surface and neutral surface formulations and
compared their results; however, they come to conflicting conclusions. Larbi et al. [42]
calculated the frequencies of movable simply supported beams based on the neutral plane
and showed that the calculated frequencies were in very close agreement with the fre-
quencies obtained from the mid-plane formulation. Eltaher et al. [43] studied FGM beams
and showed that the vibration frequencies obtained from mid-plane and neutral plane
formulations are different up to about 10%. Yin et al. [44] claimed that the mid-plane for-
mulation is not suitable for vibration analysis of FGM plates and that the neutral plane
formulation must be employed instead. Van Do et al. [45] proved that, for simply sup-
ported cracked FGM plates, the error in thermal buckling is higher than 15% between the
neutral surface and the mid-surface.
Motivated by the existing confusion, few studies have examined the mid-plane ver-
sus neutral plane formulations in the context of linear vibration [46,47] and bending [48]
of FGM and laminated beams. Wang et al. [46] discussed how the controversial conclusion
in some studies that the FGM beam must be based on the neutral plane formulation rather
than the mid-plane one for correct solutions. They showed that, for FGM beams with
clamped ends and movable simply supported ends, both formulations furnish the same
frequency results. They also interpreted the difference in results of immovable simply
supported FGM beams due to the assumption of fixation at two different planes. Rather
than the middle and neutral plane formulations, Fernando et al. [47] adopted a formula-
tion based on a reference plane where the end supports are applied on. The proposed
formulation was used to calculate the vibration frequencies of laminated beams where the
end immovable supports were placed at different heights. Their results were in excellent
agreement with those obtained by finite element models based on generalized beam, com-
posite shell, or 3D solid elements. Türker [48] investigated the influence of varying sup-
port positions through the beam thickness on bending analysis. The results revealed that
the flexural rigidity of beams is significantly influenced by the support location.
One main contribution in this work is to remove some misconceptions about MS- and
NS- formulations. Without restriction of generality, the analysis is applied to the linear
bending of BDFGM plates using higher order shear deformation theories; starting with
the fact that changing the coordinate system (from MS to NS) would not change the phys-
ics and performance of a plate provided that the boundary conditions are the same in both
cases. Once a plate is modelled based on some reference plane, the boundary conditions
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 4 of 28

must be satisfied on that plane. Generally, the MS and NS formulations share the same
definition for the transverse displacement 𝑤(𝑥, 𝑦) which is independent of the thickness
coordinate 𝑧. Accordingly, the boundary conditions on 𝑤(𝑥, 𝑦) and their derivatives have
no effect on the results obtained by either formulation. However, attention has to be paid
for the constraints involving in-plane displacements 𝑢0 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑣0 (𝑥, 𝑦) since they refer to
their values on the mid-plane in the MS formulation but refer to their values on the neutral
plane in the NS formulation. In this study and for the first time, firstly, relations between
in-plane displacement distributions on the middle- and neutral-planes are proven. Sec-
ondly, analytical expressions that relate rigidities and stress resultants associated with the
two formulations are derived. Accordingly, the present analysis enables the exact trans-
ferring of boundary conditions from one reference plane to the other. The present theo-
retical analysis proves that MS- and NS- formulations produce identical responses for
BDFG plates in cases of clamped and movable simply supported boundaries. However,
they produce different responses in the case of immovable simply supported boundaries
since each formulation assumes plate fixation at different planes. Further, numerical re-
sults show that the responses of an immovable simply supported BDFG plate obtained
using the NS formulation are identical to those obtained by MS formulation if the trans-
ferred boundary condition (from NS- to MS- planes) are applied.
The problem formulations, constitutive equations, and equivalent stiffnesses relative
to mid- and neutral surfaces are discussed in Section 2. Solution methodology including
DQM for the governing variable coefficients partial differential equations, and derivation
of the proposed modified boundary conditions are presented in Section 3. Section 4 proves
the formulation and solution technique used in the analysis with previous works, and
provides numerical results that illustrate some important features of neutral surface for-
mulation and the effect of the transmitted boundary conditions on the bending response
of the BDFG plate.

2. Theory and Formulation

2.1. Geometrical and Kinematic Relations
A rectangular plate of thickness ℎ, length 𝑎 in the x-direction and width 𝑏 in the y-
direction is shown in Figure 1. The displacement field based on a geometric middle sur-
face MS and the four-variable high shear deformation theory with no shear correction
factors can be expressed as:
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = 𝑢𝑜 (𝑥, 𝑦) − 𝑧 − 𝐹(𝑧) (1)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑣(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = 𝑣𝑜 (𝑥, 𝑦) − z − 𝐹(𝑧) (2)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦

𝑤(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = 𝑤𝑏 (𝑥, 𝑦) + 𝑤𝑠 (𝑥, 𝑦) (3)

Using the same four variables high shear deformation theory, the displacement field
based on a neutral physical surface NS can be expressed as [25,32,49–51]:
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = 𝑢𝑜 (𝑥, 𝑦) − (𝑧 − 𝑧𝑜 ) − (𝐹(𝑧) − 𝑐𝑜 ) (4)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑣(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = 𝑣𝑜 (𝑥, 𝑦) − (𝑧 − 𝑧𝑜 ) − (𝐹(𝑧) − 𝑐𝑜 ) (5)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦

𝑤(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = 𝑤𝑏 (𝑥, 𝑦) + 𝑤𝑠 (𝑥, 𝑦) (6)

where
• the in-plane displacements 𝑢𝑜 , 𝑣𝑜 in Equations (1)–(3) are defined at the middle sur-
face, while 𝑢𝑜 , 𝑣𝑜 in Equation (4) are defined at the neutral surface.
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 5 of 28

• wb and ws stand for bending and shear parts of the transverse displacement, respectively.
• 𝑧𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜 are neutral surface parameters that were evaluated by Wang et al. [52].
ℎ ⁄2 ℎ ⁄2
∫−ℎ⁄2 𝑧𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 ∫−ℎ⁄2 𝐹(𝑧)𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧
𝑧𝑜 = 𝜇 ℎ ⁄2
, 𝑐𝑜 = 𝜇 ℎ ⁄2
(7)
∫−ℎ⁄2 𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 ∫−ℎ⁄2 𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧

where 𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧) is the equivalent Young's modulus that will be identified by Equation (18).
• Factor 𝜇 equals one for the neutral surface (NS) and zero for the mid-surface (MS).
Therefore, Equations (1)–(3) can be obtained from Equations (4)–(6).
• F(z) is a shape function that estimates the distribution of transverse shear
4𝑧 3
stress/strain (τxz , τyz ) and may take several forms. In this work, F(z) = 2 ac-
3ℎ
counts not only for transverse shear strains, but also for a parabolic variation of the
transverse shear strains through thickness, and consequently, there is no need to
use shear correction coefficients in computing the shear stresses [53,54].

Figure 1. Plate geometry and references surfaces: MS and NS.

The normal and shear strains associated with the displacement field in Equations (4)–
(6) are expressed as follows [1,52]:
𝜕 2 𝑤𝑏 𝜕 2 𝑤𝑠
𝜀𝑥 = 𝜀𝑥𝑜 − (𝑧 − 𝑧𝑜 ) 2
− (𝐹(𝑧) − 𝑐𝑜 ) (8)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 2

𝜕 2 𝑤𝑏 𝜕 2 𝑤𝑠
𝜀𝑦 = 𝜀𝑦𝑜 − (𝑧 − 𝑧𝑜 ) 2
− (𝐹(𝑧) − 𝑐𝑜 ) (9)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 2

0 𝜕 2 𝑤𝑏 𝜕2 𝑤𝑠
𝛾𝑥𝑦 = 𝛾𝑥𝑦 − (𝑧 − 𝑧𝑜 ) (2 ) − (𝐹(𝑧) − 𝑐𝑜 ) (2 ) (10)
𝜕x𝜕y 𝜕x𝜕y

𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝛾𝑦𝑧 = 𝐺(𝑧) (11)
𝜕𝑦
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 6 of 28

𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝛾𝑥𝑧 = 𝐺(𝑧) (12)
𝜕𝑥

where
𝜕𝑢𝑜 𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝜀𝑥𝑜 = + 𝑧𝑜,𝑥 + 𝑐𝑜,𝑥 ,
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 (13)
𝜕𝑣𝑜 𝜕𝑢𝑜 𝜕𝑣𝑜 𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝜀𝑦𝑜 = 𝑜
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝛾𝑥𝑦 = + + 𝑧𝑜,𝑥 + 𝑐𝑜,𝑥
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥

𝐹(𝑧) = 𝑧 − 𝑓(𝑧) and 𝐺(𝑧) = 1 − 𝐹 ′ (𝑧) = 𝑓 ′ (𝑧) (14)

2.2. Constitutive Equations

The stress–strain relations (plane stress) considering the 2D shear deformation theory
are (𝜺𝒛 = 𝟎):
𝜎𝑥 𝑄11 𝑄12 0 0 0 𝜀𝑥
𝜎𝑦 𝑄12 𝑄22 0 0 0 𝜀𝑦
𝜏𝑥𝑦 = 0 0 𝑄66 0 0 𝛾𝑥𝑦 (15)
𝜏𝑦𝑧 0 0 0 𝑄44 0 𝛾𝑦𝑧
[ 𝜏𝑥𝑧 ] [ 0 0 0 0 𝑄55 ] [ 𝛾𝑥𝑧 ]
For isotropic materials, the plane stress stiffnesses are:
𝐸 𝜈𝐸
𝑄11 = 𝑄22 = , 𝑄12 = (16)
1−𝑣 2 1−𝑣 2

𝐸
𝑄44 = 𝑄55 = 𝑄66 = (17)
2(1+𝜈)

In a BDFG material, Young’s modulus 𝐸 is assumed to vary in the z- and x-direc-

tions. According to power law with indexes 𝑛𝑧 , 𝑛𝑥 and including porosity, 𝐸 can be ex-
pressed as:
1 𝑧 𝑛𝑧 𝑥 𝑛𝑥
𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧) = 𝐸𝑚 + (𝐸𝑐 − 𝐸𝑚 ) ( + ) ( ) (18)
2 ℎ 𝑎
Subscripts c and m stand for ceramic and metal, respectively. Poisson’s ratio 𝜈 is as-
sumed to be constant for each constituent.

2.3. Hamilton’s Principles and Equlibrium Equations

The governing equations of equilibrium and associated boundary conditions of the
developed linear static model are derived using the static version of Hamilton’s princi-
ples, which can be described as:
𝑇
∫ 𝛿(𝑈 + 𝑉)𝑑𝑡 = 0 (19)
0

where the virtual potential work of applied loads can be expressed in the form, 𝛿𝑉:

𝛿𝑉 = − ∫ 𝑞𝛿 (𝑤𝑏 + 𝑤𝑠 )𝑑𝐴 (20)

𝐴

The virtual strain energy 𝛿𝑈 can be evaluated by:

𝛿𝑈 = ∫ (𝜎𝑥 𝛿𝜀𝑥 + 𝜎𝑦 𝛿𝜀𝑦 + 𝜏𝑥𝑦 𝛿𝛾𝑥𝑦 + 𝜏𝑥𝑧 𝛿𝛾𝑥𝑧 + 𝜏𝑦𝑧 𝛿𝛾𝑦𝑧 )𝑑𝑉 (21)
𝑉

The virtual strain energy, 𝛿𝑈 in terms of stress resultants is derived as

Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 7 of 28

𝜕 2𝛿𝑤𝑏 𝜕 2𝛿𝑤𝑏 𝜕 2𝛿𝑤𝑏 𝜕 2𝛿𝑤𝑠 𝜕 2𝛿𝑤𝑠

𝛿𝑈 = ∫[𝑁𝑥 𝛿𝜀𝑥0 + 𝑁𝑦 𝛿𝜀𝑦0 + 𝑁𝑥𝑦 𝛿𝛾𝑥𝑦
0
− 𝑀𝑥𝑏 − 𝑀𝑦
𝑏
− 𝑀 𝑏
𝑥𝑦 (2 ) − 𝑀𝑥
𝑠
− 𝑀𝑦
𝑠
𝜕𝑥 2 𝜕𝑦 2 𝜕𝑥𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥 2 𝜕𝑦 2
𝐴 (22)
2
𝑠
𝜕 𝛿𝑤𝑠 𝑠
𝜕𝛿𝑤𝑠 𝑠
𝜕𝛿𝑤𝑠
− 𝑀𝑥𝑦 (2 ) + 𝑆𝑦𝑧 + 𝑆𝑥𝑧 ] 𝑑𝐴
𝜕𝑥𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥

Neglecting derivatives of 𝑧0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐0 with respect to x, the stress resultants can be ex-
pressed in terms of generalized displacements (𝑢𝑜 , 𝑣𝑜 , 𝑤𝑏 , 𝑤𝑠 ) in a matrix form as:

𝑁𝑥 𝑠 𝑠 𝜕𝑢𝑜 /𝜕𝑥
𝑁𝑦 𝐴11 𝐴12 0 𝐵11 𝐵12 0 𝐵11 𝐵12 0
𝑠 𝑠 𝜕𝑣𝑜 /𝜕𝑦
𝑁𝑥𝑦 𝐴12 𝐴22 0 𝐵12 𝐵22 0 𝐵12 𝐵22 0
𝑠 𝜕𝑢 /𝜕𝑦 + 𝜕𝑣𝑜 /𝜕𝑥
𝑏
0 0 𝐴66 0 0 𝐵66 0 0 𝐵66 𝑜
2 2
𝑀𝑥 𝐵11 𝐵12 0 𝐷11 𝐷12 0 𝑠
𝐷11 𝑠
𝐷12 0 −𝜕 𝑤𝑏 /𝜕 𝑥
𝑀𝑦𝑏 = 𝐵12 𝐵22 0 𝐷12 𝐷22 0 𝑠
𝐷12 𝑠
𝐷22 0 −𝜕 2 𝑤𝑏 /𝜕 2 𝑦 (23)
𝑠
𝑏
𝑀𝑥𝑦 0 0 𝐵66 0 0 𝐷66 0 0 𝐷66 −2𝜕 2 𝑤𝑏 /𝜕𝑥𝜕𝑦
𝑠 𝑠 𝑠 𝑠
𝑀𝑥𝑠 𝐵11 𝐵12 0 𝐷11 𝐷12 0 𝑠
𝐻11 𝑠
𝐻12 0 −𝜕 2 𝑤𝑠 /𝜕 2 𝑥
𝑠 𝑠 0 𝑠 𝑠
𝑀𝑦𝑠 𝐵12 𝐵22 𝐷12 𝐷22 0 𝑠
𝐻12 𝐻22 0
𝑠
−𝜕 2 𝑤𝑠 /𝜕 2 𝑦
𝑠 𝑠 𝑠
𝑠 [ 0 0 𝐵66 0 0 𝐷66 0 0 𝐻66 ] [ −2𝜕 2 𝑤 /𝜕𝑥𝜕𝑦 ]
[𝑀𝑥𝑦 ] 𝑠

𝑠
𝑆𝑦𝑧 𝐴𝑠 0 𝜕𝑤𝑠 /𝜕𝑦
[ 𝑠 ] = [ 44 𝑠 ][ ] (24)
𝑆𝑥𝑧 0 𝐴55 𝜕𝑤𝑠 /𝜕𝑥

Substituting Equations (12)–(20) for 𝛿𝑉 and 𝛿𝑈, respectively, into Equation (19)
and performing integration by parts, the equations of the BDFG plate in terms of stress
resultants are obtained as:

𝜕𝑁𝑥 𝜕𝑁𝑥𝑦
𝛿𝑢𝑜 : + =0 (25)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦

𝜕𝑁𝑥𝑦 𝜕𝑁𝑦
𝛿𝑣𝑜 : + =0 (26)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦

𝜕 2 𝑀𝑥𝑏 𝜕 2 𝑀𝑥𝑦
𝑏
𝜕 2 𝑀𝑦𝑏
𝛿𝑤𝑏 : 2
+2 + +𝑞 =0 (27)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 2

𝜕 2 𝑀𝑥𝑠 𝜕 2 𝑀𝑥𝑦
𝑠
𝜕 2 𝑀𝑦𝑠 𝜕𝑆𝑦𝑧
𝑠 𝑠
𝜕𝑆𝑥𝑧
𝛿𝑤𝑠 : + 2 + + + +𝑞 =0 (28)
𝜕𝑥 2 𝜕𝑥𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 2 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥

Associated with the following boundary conditions:

𝛿𝑢0 : (𝑁𝑥 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑁𝑥𝑦 𝑛̅𝑦 )𝛿𝑢0 =0 (29)

𝛿𝑣𝑜 : (𝑁𝑥𝑦 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑁𝑦 𝑛̅𝑦 )𝛿𝑣𝑜 = 0 (30)

𝑏 𝑏 𝑏 𝑏
𝛿𝑤𝑏 : (𝑀𝑥,𝑥 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑀𝑥𝑦,𝑦 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑀𝑥𝑦,𝑥 𝑛̅𝑦 + 𝑀𝑦,𝑦 𝑛̅𝑦 )𝛿𝑤𝑏 = 0 (31)

𝜕𝛿𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝛿𝑤𝑏
: (𝑀𝑥𝑏 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑀𝑥𝑦
𝑏
𝑛̅𝑦 ) =0 (32)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 8 of 28

𝜕𝛿𝑤𝑏 𝑏
𝜕𝛿𝑤𝑏
: (𝑀𝑥𝑦 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑀𝑦𝑏 𝑛̅𝑦 ) =0 (33)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦

𝑠 𝑠 𝑠 𝑠 𝑠 𝑠
𝛿𝑤𝑠 : (𝑀𝑥,𝑥 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑀𝑥𝑦,𝑦 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑀𝑥𝑦,𝑥 𝑛̅𝑦 + 𝑀𝑦,𝑦 𝑛̅𝑦 + 𝑆𝑥𝑧 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑆𝑦𝑧 𝑛̅𝑦 )𝛿𝑤𝑠 = 0 (34)

𝜕𝛿𝑤𝑠 𝜕𝛿𝑤𝑠
: (𝑀𝑥𝑠 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑀𝑥𝑦
𝑠
𝑛̅𝑦 ) =0 (35)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝛿𝑤𝑠 𝑠 𝜕𝛿𝑤𝑠
: (𝑀𝑥𝑦 𝑛̅𝑥 + 𝑀𝑦𝑠 𝑛̅𝑦 ) =0 (36)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦

where 𝑛̅𝑥 and 𝑛̅𝑦 are the components of the outward normal at boundaries.

2.4. Equivalent Stiffnesses Based on Mid-Plane (MS)

To consider the geometric middle surface of the plate, put 𝑧𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜 as zero-valued
(𝜇 = 0) in displacement and strain fields of Equations (4)–(14). Rigidity terms are ob-
tained as functions of x as:

(𝑀𝑆)
[(𝐴ij (𝑥), 𝐵ij (𝑥), 𝐷ij (𝑥), 𝐵ij𝑠 (𝑥), 𝐷ij𝑠 (𝑥), 𝐻ij𝑠 (𝑥))] =
(37)
ℎ ⁄2
2 2
∫ 𝑄ij (𝑥, 𝑧) [1, 𝑧, 𝑧 , 𝐹(𝑧), 𝑧𝐹(𝑧), (𝐹(𝑧)) ] 𝑑𝑧 , 𝑖𝑗 = 11,12,22,66
−ℎ⁄2

ℎ ⁄2
𝐴ij𝑠 (𝑥) = ∫ 𝑄ij (𝑥, 𝑧)(𝐺(𝑧))2 𝑑𝑧 , ij = 44, 55 (38)
−ℎ⁄2

𝑄ij (𝑥, 𝑧) and 𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧) are defined by Equations (4) and (5), respectively.

2.5. Equivalent Stiffnesses Based on Neutral Physical Plane (NS)

Due to the use of 𝑧𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜 (𝜇 = 1) defined by Equation (7) in the displacement field
of Equation (4), the plate stiffnesses 𝐵𝑖𝑗 (𝑥) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵𝑖𝑗𝑠 (𝑥) are zero-valued. Subsequently, stretch-
ing–bending couplings in Equation (23) die out. Therefore, rigidity terms are modified as
functions of x to:

(𝑁𝑆) ℎ ⁄2
[𝐴ij (𝑥), 𝐷ij (𝑥), 𝐷ij𝑠 (𝑥), 𝐻ij𝑠 (𝑥)] =∫ 𝑄ij (𝑥, 𝑧)(1, (𝑧 − 𝑧𝑜 )2 , (𝑧 − 𝑧𝑜 )(𝐹(𝑧) −
−ℎ⁄2 (39)
𝑐𝑜 ), (𝐹(𝑧) − 𝑐𝑜 )2 ) 𝑑𝑧 𝑖𝑗 = 11,12,22,66

ℎ ⁄2
𝐴ij𝑠 (𝑥) = ∫−ℎ⁄2 𝑄ij (𝑥, 𝑧)(𝐺(𝑧))2 𝑑𝑧 , ij = 44, 55 (40)

2.6. Relations between Stress Resultants Based on MS and NS Formulations

The displacement fields for the MS and NS formulations are defined in Equations
(1)–(3) and Equations (4)–(6), respectively. Both formulations define the same transverse
displacement 𝑤(𝑥, 𝑦) which is assumed to be independent of the thickness coordinate 𝑧.
Attention must be paid for the in-plane displacements 𝑢0 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑣0 (𝑥, 𝑦) that refer to their values
on the reference plane of each formulation.
In the NS formulation, Equations (4)–(6), the in-plane displacement distributions can
be better written as:
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 9 of 28

𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = 𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) − (𝑧 − 𝑧𝑜 ) − (𝐹(𝑧) − 𝑐𝑜 ) (41)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑣(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) − (𝑧 − 𝑧𝑜 ) − (𝐹(𝑧) − 𝑐𝑜 ) (42)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦

in which 𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) are the in-plane displacements at the neutral surface
(𝑧 = 𝑧0 ).
The in-plane displacement distribution on the middle-plane can be obtained by sub-
stituting 𝑧 = 0 in Equations (41) and (42).
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) = 𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) + 𝑧𝑜 + 𝑐𝑜 (43)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) = 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) + 𝑧𝑜 + 𝑐𝑜 (44)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦

Equation (3) defines the neutral surface parameters 𝑧𝑜 , 𝑐0 from which

ℎ ⁄2 ℎ ⁄2 ℎ ⁄2 ℎ ⁄2
∫ 𝑧 𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 = 𝑧𝑜 ∫ 𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 , ∫ 𝐹(𝑧)𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 = 𝑐𝑜 ∫ 𝐸(𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧
−ℎ⁄2 −ℎ⁄2 −ℎ⁄2 −ℎ⁄2

ℎ ⁄2 ℎ ⁄2 ℎ ⁄2 ℎ ⁄2
∫ 𝑧 𝑄𝑖𝑗 (𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 = 𝑧𝑜 ∫ 𝑄𝑖𝑗 (𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 , ∫ 𝐹(𝑧)𝑄𝑖𝑗 (𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 = 𝑐𝑜 ∫ 𝑄𝑖𝑗 (𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 (45)
⏟−ℎ⁄2 ⏟−ℎ⁄2 ⏟−ℎ⁄2 −ℎ⁄2
(𝑀𝑆) 𝐴𝑖𝑗 𝑠(𝑀𝑆)
𝐵𝑖𝑗 𝐵𝑖𝑗

(𝑀𝑆) (𝑁𝑆)
𝐵𝑖𝑗 = 𝑧𝑜 𝐴𝑖𝑗 , 𝐵𝑖𝑗𝑠(𝑀𝑆) = 𝑐𝑜 𝐴𝑖𝑗 , 𝐵𝑖𝑗 = 0, 𝐵𝑖𝑗𝑠(𝑁𝑆) = 0, 𝑖𝑗 = 11,12,22,66
Note also that, from Equation (39)
(𝑁𝑆) ℎ ⁄2 ℎ ⁄2 2 ℎ ⁄2 ℎ ⁄2
𝐷𝑖𝑗 = ∫−ℎ⁄2(𝑧 − 𝑧0 )2 𝑄𝑖𝑗 (𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 = ∫−ℎ⁄2 𝑧 2 𝑄𝑖𝑗 (𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 − 2𝑧0 ∫
⏟−ℎ⁄2 𝑧 𝑄𝑖𝑗 (𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧 + 𝑧0 ∫
⏟−ℎ⁄2 𝑄𝑖𝑗 (𝑥, 𝑧)𝑑𝑧
𝑧𝑜 𝐴𝑖𝑗 𝐴𝑖𝑗 (46)
(𝑁𝑆) (𝑀𝑆)
𝐷𝑖𝑗 = 𝐷𝑖𝑗 − 𝑧02 𝐴𝑖𝑗 , 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝐷𝑖𝑗𝑠(𝑁𝑆) = 𝐷𝑖𝑗𝑠(𝑀𝑆) − 𝑧0 𝑐0 𝐴𝑖𝑗 , 𝑖𝑗 = 11,12,22,66
For the stress resultant, 𝑁𝑥 , since it depends on the in-plane displacements, its value
may depend on the used formulation; however, from Equation (23) and using Equations
(43)–(45), note that
(𝑀𝑆) 𝜕 𝑢0𝑀𝑆 𝜕 𝑣0𝑀𝑆 (𝑀𝑆) 𝜕2 wb (𝑀𝑆) 𝜕2 wb 𝑠(𝑀𝑆) 𝜕 2 ws 𝑠(𝑀𝑆) 𝜕 2 ws
𝑁𝑥 = 𝐴11 + 𝐴12 − 𝐵11 − 𝐵12 − 𝐵11 − 𝐵12
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕2 𝑥 𝜕2 𝑦 𝜕2 𝑥 𝜕2 𝑦

𝜕wb 𝜕w 𝜕wb 𝜕w
𝑁𝑆 (𝑥,𝑦)+z
𝜕 (𝑢𝑜 0 +c0 s ) 𝜕 (𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥,𝑦)+z0 +c0 s ) 𝜕 2 wb 𝜕 2 wb
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦
= 𝐴11 + 𝐴12 − 𝑧𝑜 𝐴11 − 𝑧𝑜 𝐴12 −
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕2 𝑥 𝜕2 𝑦

𝜕 2 ws 𝜕 2 ws
𝑐𝑜 𝐴11 − 𝑐𝑜 𝐴12 (47)
𝜕2 𝑥 𝜕2 𝑦

𝜕 𝑢0𝑁𝑆 𝜕 𝑣0𝑁𝑆 (𝑁𝑆)

= 𝐴11 + 𝐴12 = 𝑁𝑥
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦

That is
(𝑀𝑆) (𝑁𝑆) (𝑀𝑆) (𝑁𝑆)
𝑁𝑥 = 𝑁𝑥 , similarly 𝑁𝑦 = 𝑁𝑦
(𝑀𝑆) (𝑁𝑆)
Finally, the relation between bending stress resultants 𝑀𝑥 and 𝑀𝑥 is derived.
From Equation (23) and using Equations (43)–(46)
𝑏(𝑀𝑆) (𝑀𝑆) 𝜕𝑢0𝑀𝑆 𝑀𝑆
(𝑀𝑆) 𝜕𝑣0
2
(𝑀𝑆) 𝜕 wb
2
(𝑀𝑆) 𝜕 wb
2
𝑠(𝑀𝑆) 𝜕 ws
2
𝑠(𝑀𝑆) 𝜕 ws
𝑀𝑥 = 𝐵11 + 𝐵12 − 𝐷11 – 𝐷12 − 𝐷11 – 𝐷12 (48)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕2𝑥 𝜕2𝑦 𝜕2𝑥 𝜕2𝑦
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 10 of 28

𝑁𝑆 𝜕 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆
𝑏(𝑀𝑆) 𝜕 𝑢𝑜 (𝑁𝑆) 𝜕2 wb (𝑁𝑆) 𝜕2 wb 𝑠(𝑁𝑆) 𝜕2 ws 𝑠(𝑁𝑆) 𝜕2 ws
𝑀𝑥 = 𝑧𝑜 (𝐴11 + 𝐴12 ) + (−𝐷11 − 𝐷12 − 𝐷11 − 𝐷12 )
⏟ 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 ⏟ 𝜕2 𝑥 𝜕2 𝑦 𝜕2 𝑥 𝜕2 𝑦
(𝑁𝑆) 𝑏(𝑁𝑆)
𝑁𝑥 𝑀𝑥

(𝑁𝑆) (𝑁𝑆)
𝑀𝑥𝑏(𝑀𝑆) = 𝑀𝑥𝑏(𝑁𝑆) + 𝑧𝑜 𝑁𝑥 , similarly 𝑀𝑦𝑏(𝑀𝑆) = 𝑀𝑦𝑏(𝑁𝑆) + 𝑧𝑜 𝑁𝑦 ,
(𝑁𝑆) (𝑁𝑆)
𝑀𝑥𝑠(𝑀𝑆) = 𝑀𝑥𝑠(𝑁𝑆) + 𝑐𝑜 𝑁𝑥 , 𝑀𝑦𝑠(𝑀𝑆) = 𝑀𝑦𝑠(𝑁𝑆) + 𝑐𝑜 𝑁𝑦 ,
It is worth noting that stretching–bending couplings vanish in the governing equa-
tions obtained based on the NS formulation because of disappearance of the stiffnesses
𝐵𝑖𝑗 (𝑥) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵𝑖𝑗𝑠 (𝑥), 𝑖𝑗 = 11,12,22,66.

3. Numerical Methodology
A set of four partial differential governing equations and associated boundary con-
ditions were developed based on stress resultants to model the static response of BDFG
plates in Equations (12) and (13), respectively. The assumption that the material properties
change in the x-direction complicates the governing equations since they become variable-coeffi-
cients and consequently no analytical solution can be found. In this work, the differential/inte-
gral quadrature method (DIQM) [55,56] is developed to numerically solve the governing
equations of a rectangular plate (0 ≤ 𝑥 ≤ 𝑎, 0 ≤ 𝑦 ≤ 𝑏) with the following boundary
conditions.
Clamped BCs:
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢0 = 𝑣0 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = = = 0 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 0, 𝑥 = 𝑎 (49)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢0 = 𝑣0 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = = = 0 𝑎𝑡 𝑦 = 0, 𝑦 = 𝑏 (50)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦

Simply supported BCs:

Type 1 (𝑆𝑚 ) (movable normal in-plane displacement)
𝑁𝑥 = 𝑣0 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑥𝑏 = 𝑀𝑥𝑠 = 0 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 0, 𝑥 = 𝑎 (51)

𝑢0 = 𝑁𝑦 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑦𝑏 = 𝑀𝑦𝑠 = 0 𝑎𝑡 𝑦 = 0, 𝑦 = 𝑏 (52)

Type 2 (𝑆𝑖𝑚 ) (immovable normal in-plane displacement)

𝑢0 = 𝑣0 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑥𝑏 = 𝑀𝑥𝑠 = 0 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 0, 𝑥 = 𝑎 (53)

𝑢0 = 𝑣0 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑦𝑏 = 𝑀𝑦𝑠 = 0 𝑎𝑡 𝑦 = 0, 𝑦 = 𝑏 (54)

3.1. DQM Implementation for PDE

The DIQM was employed by [56] to solve linear and nonlinear integro-differential
equations. It was found that DIQM provides highly accurate results using only a few grid
points. It transforms the integro-differential equations into a system of algebraic equa-
tions. In this section, the details of DIQM for partial differential equations are presented.
Consider a partial differential equation in the unknown function 𝑢(𝑥, 𝑦). The 2D domain
of the independent variables 0 < 𝑥 < 𝑎, 0 < 𝑦 < 𝑏 is discretized by 𝑛- and 𝑚-points,
respectively. The unknowns 𝑢𝑖𝑗 = 𝑢(𝑥𝑗 , 𝑦𝑖 ), 𝑖 = 1, ⋯ , 𝑚, 𝑗 = 1, ⋯ , 𝑛 defined on the rec-
tangular domain are rearranged vector after vector to form the whole unknown vector

𝑼 = [𝑢11 , 𝑢21 , ⋯ 𝑢𝑚1 , 𝑢12 , 𝑢22 , ⋯ 𝑢𝑚2 , ⋯ , ⋯ , 𝑢1𝑛 , 𝑢2𝑛 , ⋯ 𝑢𝑚𝑛 ]𝑇 (55)

Using classical definitions for DQM in one dimension [57], let 𝐷𝑥 be the first order
derivative matrix with respect to 𝑥 of dimension 𝑛 × 𝑛, and let 𝐷𝑦 be the first order de-
rivative matrix with respect to 𝑦 of dimension 𝑚 × 𝑚 . To be consistent with the
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 11 of 28

arrangement of unknowns given in Equation (55) for vector 𝑼, the Kronecker product is
used to construct global derivative matrices of dimension (𝑚𝑛 × 𝑚𝑛 ) as:
𝔻𝑥 = 𝐾𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑟(𝐷𝑥 , 𝐼(𝑚)) (56)

𝔻𝑦 = 𝐾𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑟(𝐼(𝑛), 𝐷𝑦 ) (57)

where 𝐼(𝑛) and 𝐼(𝑚) are the identity matrices of dimensions (𝑛 × 𝑛) and (𝑚 × 𝑚), re-
spectively. Based on Equations (56) and (57), DQM can approximate higher and mixed
partial derivatives such as 𝜕 2 𝑢/𝜕𝑥 2 , 𝜕 2 𝑢/𝜕𝑦 2 , 𝜕 2 𝑢/𝜕𝑥𝜕𝑦 by 𝔻𝑥𝑥 𝑼, 𝔻𝑦𝑦 𝑼 and 𝔻𝑥𝑦 𝑼, re-
spectively, where 𝔻𝑥𝑥 = 𝔻2𝑥 , 𝔻𝑦𝑦 = 𝔻2𝑦 , and 𝔻𝑥𝑦 = 𝔻𝑥 𝔻𝑦 .

3.2. DQM Discretization for PDF

The governing equations for the BDFG plate consist of four variable-coefficient par-
tial differential equations in the unknowns 𝑢0 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑣0 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑤𝑏 (𝑥, 𝑦) and 𝑤𝑠 (𝑥, 𝑦). They
are discretized by DQM as the unknown vectors 𝑈, 𝑉, 𝑊𝑏 and 𝑊𝑠 , each of dimension
(𝑛𝑚 × 1) . Moreover, the variable coefficients 𝐴ij (𝑥), 𝐵ij (𝑥), 𝐷ij (𝑥), 𝐵ij𝑠 (𝑥), 𝐷ij𝑠 (𝑥),
𝐻ij𝑠 (𝑥), ij = 11,12,22,66 and 𝐴ij𝑠 (𝑥), ij = 44, 55 are defined for the MS- and NS-formula-
tions in Equation (14) and Equation (15), respectively. These coefficients are computed by
IQM and arranged as (𝑛𝑚 × 1) vectors 𝒜ij , ℬij , 𝒟ij , ℬij𝑠 , 𝒟ijs , ℋijs , 𝑖𝑗 = 11,12,22,66
𝑠 𝑠
and 𝒜44 , 𝒜55 . For the convenience of applying DQM to discretize the variable-coefficient
partial differential equations, a special matrices multiplication operator is introduced. The
operator ′ ∘′ is defined such that for a vector 𝒱 of dimensions (𝓃 × 1) and a matrix ℳ
of dimensions (𝓃 × 𝓂) (i.e., each of 𝒱 and ℳ must have the same number of rows),
𝒱 ∘ ℳ = 𝒴, which implies that 𝒴 is a (𝓃 × 𝓂)-matrix, such that 𝒴𝑖𝑗 = 𝒱𝑖 ℳ𝑖𝑗 .
Applying the DQM as described in Section 3.1, the stress resultants can be written as:
𝒦𝑁𝑥
𝑵𝑥
𝑵𝑦 𝒦𝑁𝑦
𝑵𝑥𝑦 𝒦𝑁𝑥𝑦
𝑴𝑏𝑥 𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑏
𝑴𝑏𝑦 = 𝒦𝑀𝑦𝑏 𝓧 (58)
𝑴𝑏𝑥𝑦 𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑦
𝑏

𝑴𝑥𝑠 𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑠
𝑴𝑦𝑠 𝒦𝑀𝑦𝑠
𝑠
[𝑴𝑥𝑦 ]
[𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑦
𝑠
]

𝑠 } is a (𝑛𝑚 × 4𝑛𝑚) matrix,

where each of {𝒦𝑁𝑥 , 𝒦𝑁𝑦 , ⋯ , 𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑦

𝓧 = [𝑼𝑇 , 𝑽𝑇 , 𝑾𝑇𝑏 , 𝑾𝑇𝑠 ]𝑇 , (59)

𝒜11 ∘ 𝔻𝑥 𝒜12 ∘ 𝔻𝑦 𝑠 𝑠
𝒦𝑁𝑥 −(𝓑11 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓑12 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 ) −(𝓑11 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓑12 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 )
𝒦𝑁𝑦 𝒜12 ∘ 𝔻𝑥 𝒜22 ∘ 𝔻𝑦 −(𝓑12 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓑22 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 ) 𝑠
−(𝓑12 𝑠
∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓑22 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 )
𝒦𝑁𝑥𝑦 𝑠
𝒜66 ∘ 𝔻𝑦 𝒜66 ∘ 𝔻𝑥 −2𝓑66 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑦 −2𝓑66 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑦
𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑏 𝑠 𝑠
𝓑11 ∘ 𝔻𝑥 𝓑12 ∘ 𝔻𝑦 −(𝓓11 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓓12 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 ) −(𝓓11 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓓12 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 )
𝒦𝑀𝑦𝑏 𝑠 𝑠
= 𝓑12 ∘ 𝔻𝑥 𝓑22 ∘ 𝔻𝑦 −(𝓓12 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓓22 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 ) −(𝓓12 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓓22 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 ) (60)
𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑦
𝑏 𝑠
𝓑66 ∘ 𝔻𝑦 𝓑66 ∘ 𝔻𝑥 −2𝓓66 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑦 −2𝓓66 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑦
𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑠 𝑠
𝓑11 ∘ 𝔻𝑥 𝑠
𝓑12 ∘ 𝔻𝑦 𝑠
−(𝓓11 𝑠
∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓓12 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 ) 𝑠
−(𝓗11 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓗12𝑠
∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 )
𝒦𝑀𝑦𝑠 𝑠
𝓑12 ∘ 𝔻𝑥 𝑠
𝓑22 ∘ 𝔻𝑦 𝑠
−(𝓓12 𝑠
∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓓22 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 ) 𝑠
−(𝓗12 𝑠
∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑥 + 𝓗22 ∘ 𝔻𝑦𝑦 )
[𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑦
𝑠
] 𝑠
[ 𝓑66 ∘ 𝔻𝑦
𝑠
𝓑66 ∘ 𝔻𝑥 𝑠
−2𝓓66 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑦 𝑠
−2𝓗66 ∘ 𝔻𝑥𝑦 ]
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 12 of 28

Substituting Equations (58)–(60) into Equation (25)–(28) and applying DQM to dis-
cretize the governing differential equations into the following linear algebraic system:
𝔻𝑥 𝒦𝑁𝑥 + 𝔻𝑦 𝒦𝑁𝑥𝑦
𝔻𝑥 𝒦𝑁𝑥𝑦 + 𝔻𝑦 𝒦𝑁𝑦
𝔻𝑥𝑥 𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑏 + 2𝔻𝑥𝑦 𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑦 𝓧=𝑭 (61)
𝑏 + 𝔻𝑦𝑦 𝒦𝑀𝑏
𝑦
𝑠 𝑠
[𝔻𝑥𝑥 𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑠 + 2𝔻𝑥𝑦 𝒦𝑀𝑥𝑦
𝑠 + 𝔻𝑦𝑦 𝒦𝑀 𝑠 + 𝔻𝑦 𝑆𝑦𝑧 + 𝔻𝑥 𝑆𝑥𝑧
𝑦 ]4𝑚𝑛×4𝑚𝑛

where 𝐹 is the force vector and

𝑠 𝑠 𝑠 𝑠
𝑆𝑦𝑧 = [𝑂 𝑂 𝑂 𝒜44 ∘ 𝔻𝑦 ], 𝑆𝑥𝑧 = [𝑂 𝑂 𝑂 𝒜55 ∘ 𝔻𝑥 ]
and 𝑂 is a zero matrix of dimension (𝑚𝑛 × 𝑚𝑛).

3.3. Remarks on Algebraic Systems of MS and NS Formulations

Equation (61) can be split in the form:

𝐿𝑠𝑠 𝐿𝑠𝑏 𝑼 𝑭𝑠
𝓧𝒔 = { }
𝑽
[ ][ 𝑾𝑏 ] = [ ] (62)
𝐿𝑏𝑠 𝐿𝑏𝑏 𝓧 𝒃 = { } 𝑭𝑏
𝑾𝑠

where subscripts s and b denote stretching and bending components, respectively. Since
the coefficient vectors {𝒜ij , ℬij , 𝒟ij , ℬij𝑠 , 𝒟ijs , ℋijs , 𝑖𝑗 = 11,12,22,66} appearing in the stress
resultants Equation (60) are computed differently for the middle and neutral surface for-
mulations (see Equations (37)–(40)), the discretized algebraic systems based on the two
formulations are different. The main advantage of the neutral surface formulation (NS) is
that the chosen values of 𝑧0 , 𝑐0 as defined in Equation (7) imply that {ℬij(𝑁𝑆) = ℬij𝑠(𝑁𝑆) = 0,
𝑖𝑗 = 11,12,22,66}, and accordingly, the sub-matrices 𝐿𝑠𝑏 , 𝐿𝑏𝑠 vanish, and thus the stretch-
ing and bending equations are uncoupled. This simplified feature of the NS formulation
is a benefit for obtaining analytical solutions. The discretized algebraic systems for the
governing equations based on MS and NS formulations can be put in the forms:

𝐿𝑀𝑆
𝑠𝑠 𝐿𝑀𝑆
𝑠𝑏 𝓧𝑀𝑆
𝒔 𝑭𝑠
[ ] [ 𝑀𝑆 ] = [ ] (63)
𝐿𝑀𝑆
𝑏𝑠
𝑀𝑆
𝐿𝑏𝑏 𝓧𝑏 𝑭𝑏

𝐿𝑁𝑆
𝑠𝑠 𝒪 𝓧𝑁𝑆
𝑠 𝑭𝑠
[ ] [ ] = [ ] (64)
𝒪 𝐿𝑁𝑆
𝑏𝑏 𝓧𝑏
𝑁𝑆 𝑭𝑏

where 𝒪 is a zero matrix of dimension (2𝑚𝑛 × 2𝑚𝑛). The algebraic systems (Equations
(63) and (64)) represent the discretization of the governing equations and need be modi-
fied by adding contributions of proper BCs.
It is understood that changing the coordinate system (from MS to NS) would not
change the physics and performance of a plate provided that the boundary conditions are
the same in both cases. The main objective in this work is to analyze and discuss the fol-
lowing questions. Are solutions based on MS and NS algebraic systems identical? What
is the effect of boundary conditions on the solutions?

3.4. Application of Different Boundary Conditions for MS and NS Formulations

It is important to mention that, once the governing equations are derived based on
some reference plane, the associated boundary conditions must be satisfied on that plane.
That is, the boundary conditions (BCs) must be applied on plane 𝑧 = 0 in the MS
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 13 of 28

formulation and on 𝑧 = 𝑧0 plane in the NS formulation. Both of the MS and NS formula-

tions share the same definition for the transverse displacements 𝑤𝑏 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑤𝑠 (𝑥, 𝑦) which
are assumed to be independent of the thickness coordinate. Accordingly, the boundary
conditions on 𝑤𝑏 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑤𝑠 (𝑥, 𝑦) and their derivatives have no effect on the results ob-
tained by either formulation. However, attention has to be paid for the constraints involv-
ing in-plane displacements 𝑢0 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑣0 (𝑥, 𝑦) since they refer to their values on the mid-
plane in the MS formulation but refer to their values on the neutral plane in the NS for-
mulation. The relations between in-plane displacement distributions on the middle-plane
𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) and on the neutral plane 𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) are derived in Equations
(43) and (44) as:
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) = 𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) + 𝑧𝑜 + 𝑐𝑜 (65)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) = 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) + 𝑧𝑜 + 𝑐𝑜 (66)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦
In addition, relations between some stress resultants based on the middle and neutral
formulations were obtained in Equations (47) and (48) as:
(𝑀𝑆) (𝑁𝑆) (𝑀𝑆) (𝑁𝑆)
𝑁𝑥 = 𝑁𝑥 , 𝑁𝑦 = 𝑁𝑦 (67)

𝑏(𝑀𝑆) 𝑏(𝑁𝑆) (𝑁𝑆) 𝑏(𝑀𝑆) 𝑏(𝑁𝑆) (𝑁𝑆)

𝑀𝑥 = 𝑀𝑥 + 𝑧𝑜 𝑁𝑥 , 𝑀𝑦 = 𝑀𝑦 + 𝑧𝑜 𝑁𝑦 (68)

𝑠(𝑀𝑆) 𝑠(𝑁𝑆) (𝑁𝑆) 𝑠(𝑀𝑆) 𝑠(𝑁𝑆) (𝑁𝑆)

𝑀𝑥 = 𝑀𝑥 + 𝑐𝑜 𝑁𝑥 , 𝑀𝑦 = 𝑀𝑦 + 𝑐𝑜 𝑁𝑦 (69)

In the following, some theoretical conclusions are derived.

• Note first that for plates with symmetric properties in the thickness-direction, the
neutral plane coincides on the middle plane. For such plates, identical responses are
expected based on MS and NS formulations for all BCs. As a special case, responses
of plates made of pure materials (ceramic or metal) are identical regardless of the
used formulation and BCs.
• Clamped BCs (Equation (18)): At a vertical edge (𝑥 = 0, 𝑥 = 𝑎), the clamped BCs are
𝜕𝑤 𝜕𝑤
given by 𝑢0 = 𝑣0 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑏 = 𝑠 = 0. Note that conditions 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 0 on
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠 𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
such vertical lines imply = = 0, and since = = 0, then using Equa-
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥
tions (65) and (66) = 𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆
= 0 implies that = 0 on the vertical𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 = 𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆
edges. A similar conclusion can be derived for horizontal edges. That is, the same
BCs are applied in the MS and NS formulations and identical solutions are expected
for clamped plates.
• Movable simply supported BCs 𝑆𝑚 (Equation (19)): For plates with movable simply
supported BCs, the tangential in-plane displacement is constrained at the boundaries
while the normal in-plane displacement is unconstrained. At a vertical edge (𝑥 =
0, 𝑥 = 𝑎), the 𝑆𝑚 BCs are given by 𝑁𝑥 = 𝑣0 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑥𝑏 = 𝑀𝑥𝑠 = 0. Conditions
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤
𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 0 on vertical lines imply = 𝑠 = 0, then by Equation (66), 𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 = 0
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦
implies 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 = 0. On horizontal edges, it similarly can be proved that 𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 = 0 im-
(𝑀𝑆) 𝑏(𝑀𝑆) 𝑠(𝑀𝑆)
plies 𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 = 0. Using Equations (67)–(69), BCs 𝑁𝑥 = 𝑀𝑥 = 𝑀𝑥 = 0 implies
(𝑁𝑆) 𝑏(𝑁𝑆) 𝑠(𝑁𝑆)
𝑁𝑥 = 𝑀𝑥 = 𝑀𝑥 = 0 on all edges. Accordingly, the BCs applied to the dis-
cretized algebraic systems (Equations (63) and (64)) are identical, and hence the so-
lutions based on MS and NS formulations would be the same.
• Immovable simply supported BCs 𝑆𝑖𝑚 (Equation (20)): At a vertical edge (𝑥 = 0, 𝑥 = 𝑎),
the 𝑆𝑖𝑚 BCs are given by 𝑢0 = 𝑣0 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑥𝑏 = 𝑀𝑥𝑠 = 0 . Conditions 𝑤𝑏 =
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤
𝑤𝑠 = 0 on vertical lines imply = 𝑠 = 0, then by Equation (66), 𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 = 0 im-
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦
plies 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 = 0. However, no such claim exists for BCs 𝑢0 = 0, 𝑀𝑥𝑏 = 0, 𝑀𝑥𝑠 = 0. In
𝑏(𝑀𝑆) 𝑠(𝑀𝑆) 𝑏(𝑁𝑆)
other words, 𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 = 0, 𝑀𝑥 = 0, 𝑀𝑥 = 0 does not imply 𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 = 0, 𝑀𝑥 =
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 14 of 28

𝑠(𝑁𝑆)
0, 𝑀𝑥 = 0. Similar conclusions can be derived in the case of horizontal edges. This
means that for immovable simply supported plates, MS and NS formulations solve
two different boundary value problems and hence predict different responses. The
MS formulation is a solution for a plate whose normal in-plane displacements are
constrained at its boundaries in the middle plane (𝑧 = 0), while the fixation is as-
sumed at plane (𝑧 = 𝑧0 ) in the NS formulation.
In summary, for the discussed boundary conditions, MS- and NS-formulations pro-
duce identical responses for BDFG plates in cases of clamped (𝐶) and movable simply
supported (𝑆𝑚 ) boundaries. However, they produce different responses in the case of
immovable simply supported (𝑆𝑖𝑚 ) boundaries since each formulation assumes plate fix-
ation at different planes.

3.5. Modified Immovable BCs (𝑺𝒊𝒎 ) for MS and NS Formulations

The immovable simply supported classical boundary conditions (Sim ) (Equations
(53) and (54)) for both MS and NS formulations are applied on the plate edges at its own
reference planes 𝑧 = 0, 𝑧 = 𝑧0 , respectively, as shown in Figure 2. That is, the MS formu-
lation computes the plate response if it is constrained at its middle plane, while the NS
formulation models plates constrained at the neutral plane. Based on Equations (65)–(69),
the boundary conditions (Sim ) can be modified to enable MS and NS formulations to
predict the response of BDFG plates constrained at an arbitrary plane. The following mod-
ified BCs are special cases.
(a) MS formulation with modified BCs: 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺−𝒎𝒐𝒅)
This modified MS formulation is suggested to enable MS formulation to predict the
responses of an immovable simply supported plate if it is constrained at its neutral plane
𝑏(𝑁𝑆) 𝑠(𝑁𝑆)
(𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 = 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑥 = 𝑀𝑥 = 0 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 0, 𝑎). The updated BCs in terms of
𝑀𝑆 𝑀𝑆 𝑏(𝑀𝑆) 𝑠(𝑀𝑆)
𝑢𝑜 , 𝑣𝑜 , 𝑀𝑥 , 𝑀𝑥 can be obtained using Equations (65)–(69) as:
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠 (𝑀𝑆) (𝑀𝑆)
𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 − 𝑧𝑜 − 𝑐𝑜 = 𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑥𝑏(𝑀𝑆) − 𝑧𝑜 𝑁𝑥 = 𝑀𝑥𝑠(𝑀𝑆) − 𝑐𝑜 𝑁𝑥 = 0, 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 0, 𝑎 (70)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠 (𝑀𝑆) (𝑀𝑆)

𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 = 𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 − 𝑧𝑜 − 𝑐𝑜 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑦𝑏(𝑀𝑆) − 𝑧𝑜 𝑁𝑦 = 𝑀𝑦𝑠(𝑀𝑆) − 𝑐𝑜 𝑁𝑦 = 0, 𝑎𝑡 𝑦 = 0, 𝑏 (71)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦
Dropping the superscripts (𝑀𝑆), keeping in mind that all field variables and stress
resultants refer to the middle-plane, the modified BCs (𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑀𝑆−𝑚𝑜𝑑) ) can be written as:
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢0 − 𝑧𝑜 − 𝑐𝑜 = 𝑣0 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑥𝑏 − 𝑧0 𝑁𝑥 = 𝑀𝑥𝑠 − 𝑐0 𝑁𝑥 = 0, 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 0, 𝑥 = 𝑎 (72)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢0 = 𝑣0 − 𝑧𝑜 − 𝑐𝑜 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑦𝑏 − 𝑧0 𝑁𝑦 = 𝑀𝑦𝑠 − 𝑐0 𝑁𝑦 = 0, 𝑎𝑡 𝑦 = 0, 𝑦 = 𝑏 (73)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦

(b) NS formulation with modified BCs: 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺−𝒎𝒐𝒅)

Similarly, the NS formulation can model an immovable simply supported plate con-
strained at the middle plane by applying the following modified BCs (𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑁𝑆−𝑚𝑜𝑑) ):
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢0 + 𝑧𝑜 + 𝑐𝑜 = 𝒗𝟎 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑥𝑏 + 𝑧0 𝑁𝑥 = 𝑀𝑥𝑠 + 𝑐0 𝑁𝑥 = 0 𝑎𝑡 𝑥 = 0, 𝑥 = 𝑎 (74)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥
𝜕𝑤𝑏 𝜕𝑤𝑠
𝑢0 = 𝑣0 + 𝑧𝑜 + 𝑐𝑜 = 𝑤𝑏 = 𝑤𝑠 = 𝑀𝑦𝑏 + 𝑧0 𝑁𝑦 = 𝑀𝑦𝑠 + 𝑐0 𝑁𝑦 = 0 𝑎𝑡 𝑦 = 0, 𝑦 = 𝑏 (75)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 15 of 28

Figure 2. MS and NS formulations with classical and modified BCs for immovable simply sup-
ported (𝑆𝑖𝑚 ) BDFG plates.

4. Numerical Results
Model validation with previous works and influences of gradation indices, the MS
and NS formulations, mobile and immobile boundary conditions on the static response of
bi-directional functionally graded plate with fully clamped and simply supported edges
will be proved and discussed in details through this section. The BDFG square plate with
constituents of 𝐴𝑙/𝐴𝑙2 𝑂3 is considered, which has the following material properties: 𝐸𝑚 =
70 GPa; 𝜈𝑚 = 0.3; 𝐸𝑐 = 380 GPa; 𝜈𝑐 = 0.3.
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 16 of 28

4.1. Validation
The effects of material gradation indices and load distribution function on the static
deflection and normal stress of the BDFG plate with immovable simply supported bound-
ary conditions are presented in Table 1A. As shown, by increasing the gradation distribu-
tion through the thickness direction, the material constituent changes from the ceramic
phase with high stiffness to the metal phase with lower stiffness; therefore, the deflection
and normal stress will be increased. It is also seen that the current results are very close to
those obtained by [35,58] for the uniform and lateral distributed loads.

10𝐸𝑐 ℎ3
Table 1. (A) Comparison of the non-dimensional maximum deflection (𝑤
̅ = 𝑤𝑚𝑎𝑥 ) and
𝑞0 𝑎4
ℎ
(𝜎̅𝑥 = 𝑎𝑞 𝜎𝑥 ) of the BDFG 𝐴𝑙/𝐴𝑙2 𝑂3 immovable simply supported square plate (𝑎/ℎ = 10) under
0
uniform/ sinusoidal transversal load based on neutral surface formulation (𝑁𝑆). (B) Comparison
with Singha et al. [37] for linear bending of immovable simply supported FG plates under uniform
transversal load based on NS, MS formulations (𝒂/𝒉 = 𝟏𝟎𝟎, 𝒏𝒙 = 𝟎).

(A)
̅
𝒘 ̅𝒙
𝝈
𝒏𝒛 Present [35] [58] Present [35] [58]
Uniformly distributed load
ceramic 0.4665 0.4666 0.4665 2.8917 2.8688 2.8932
1 0.9287 0.9290 0.9287 4.4720 4.4303 4.4745
2 1.1939 1.1952 1.1940 5.2263 5.1689 5.2296
4 1.3882 1.3908 1.3890 5.8870 5.8035 5.8915
Metal 2.5326 - 2.5327 2.8917 - 2.8932
Lateral sinusoidal load
ceramic 0.2961 0.2961 0.2960 1.9943 1.9679 1.9955
1 0.5890 0.5891 0.5889 3.0850 3.0389 3.0870
2 0.7573 0.7582 0.7573 3.6067 3.5456 3.6094
4 0.8815 0.8831 0.8819 4.0655 3.9813 4.0693
Metal 1.6072 1.6072 1.6070 1.9943 1.9679 1.9955
(B)
MS formulation NS formulation
𝒏𝒛
[35] Present [35] Present
Ceramic 0.4064 0.4064 0.4064 0.4064
0.5 0.5984 0.5989 0.6269 0.6282
1 0.7313 0.7300 0.8154 0.8154
1.5 0.8206 0.8188 0.9525 0.9525
2 0.8824 0.8804 1.0449 1.0449
3.3 0.9817 0.9794 1.1672 1.1672
5 1.0651 1.0625 1.2359 1.2359
10 1.2431 1.2401 1.3569 1.3564
Metal 2.2206 2.2205 2.2206 2.2204

To validate the formulation of both MS and NS, numerical results for linear bending
of immovable simply supported FG plates under a uniform transversal load with previous
published work by Singha et al. [37] are presented in Table 1B. As concluded, the results
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 17 of 28

are identical and very close to 0.5% deviation with those obtained by Singha et al. [37] for
MS and NS formulations. It is seen that the deflection is identical for the MS and NS for-
mulations in the case of pure ceramics/pure metal. However, for graded material, the
static deflection for the MS formulation is an under-estimation for the NS formulation.
Therefore, the formulation of NS is recommended in design and analysis of the BDFG
plate, rather than the MS formulation.

4.2. Parametric Studies

4.2.1. Influence of the (𝐸𝑐 ⁄Em ) Ratio on z0 and c0
Influence of material orthotropy (𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 ) and gradation indexes (𝑛𝑧 , 𝑛𝑥 ) of a BDFG
plate on the values of the neutral surface parameters (𝑧0 (𝑥), 𝑐0 (𝑥)) are illustrated in Fig-
ure 3 and Table 2. It is understood that 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 = 1 indicates that the plate is made of ho-
mogeneous material, and hence, 𝑧0 (𝑥) = 𝑐0 (𝑥) = 0. Increasing the ratio 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 increases
the neutral surface parameters. For 𝑛𝑥 = 1, 𝑛𝑧 = {0.5,1,2}, it is observed that increasing 𝑛𝑧
increases the values of 𝑧0 (𝑥) and 𝑐0 (𝑥). Table 2 reports the maximum values of 𝑧0 /ℎ and
𝑐0 /ℎ for different 𝑛𝑧 and 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 ratios.

Table 2. Maximum values of 𝑧0 /ℎ and 𝑐0 /ℎ at different 𝑛𝑧 and 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 ratios ( 𝑛𝑥 = 1).

𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟐 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟒 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟔

𝒏𝒛
𝒛𝝄 ⁄𝒉 𝒄𝝄 ⁄𝒉 𝒛𝝄 ⁄𝒉 𝒄𝝄 ⁄𝒉 𝒛𝝄 ⁄𝒉 𝒄𝝄 ⁄𝒉
0.0 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.2 0.0214 0.0047 0.0337 0.0074 0.0381 0.0083
0.5 0.0401 0.0083 0.0669 0.0138 0.0772 0.0160
1 0.0556 0.0111 0.1000 0.0200 0.1190 0.0238
2 0.0625 0.0125 0.1250 0.0250 0.1563 0.0313
4 0.0556 0.0119 0.1250 0.0268 0.1667 0.0357
5 0.0510 0.0113 0.1190 0.0265 0.1623 0.0361
10 0.0347 0.0088 0.0893 0.0226 0.1303 0.0330
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 18 of 28

Figure 3. Plots of 𝑧0 (𝑥) and 𝑐0 (𝑥) at different 𝑛𝑧 and 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 ratios ( 𝑛𝑥 = 1).

4.2.2. A Note on the Neutral Surface Formulation

The analysis given in Section 3.3 shows that discretization of the governing differen-
tial equations obtained based on the neutral surface formulation results in an uncoupled
system of algebraic equations Equation (64). Due to uncoupling, two sub-systems,
𝑁𝑆 𝑁𝑆
𝐿𝑁𝑆 𝑁𝑆
𝑠𝑠 𝓧𝑠 = 𝑭𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑏𝑏 𝓧𝑏 = 𝑭𝑏 , can be solved separately for the stretching displacements
𝓧𝑠 = [𝑼 , 𝑽 ] and the transverse deflection 𝒳𝑏𝑁𝑆 = [𝑊𝑏𝑇 , 𝑊𝑠𝑇 ]𝑇 , respectively. This feature
𝑁𝑆 𝑇 𝑇 𝑇

of the neutral formulation is important to understand the responses of movable and im-
movable simply supported plates based on the NS formulation. Figure 4 presents the di-
𝑢0 𝑣0 100𝐸𝑐 ℎ3
mensionless displacement distributions (𝑢̅0 = , 𝑣̅0 = ,𝑤
̂ =𝑤 ) based on
𝑎 𝑎 12(1−𝜈2 )𝑞0 𝑎4
neutral surface formulation (𝑁𝑆) for the (a) movable and (b) immovable simply-sup-
ported BDFG 𝐴𝑙/𝐴𝑙2 𝑂3 square plate (𝑎/ℎ = 10, nz = 1, 𝑛𝑥 = 1) under a uniform load. It
is observed from Figure 4 that the computed transverse deflections 𝑤 ̂(𝑥, 𝑦) are identical
for the movable and immovable boundary conditions. Such an observation can be found
also in the literature (see, e.g., columns 4,5 of Table 4 in [35]. These two columns reported
identical results for the maximum deflection based on the NS formulations for immovable
and movable simply supported FGM plats, respectively. This observation can be inter-
preted because of the bending–stretching uncoupling in the NS formulation (see Equation
(64)), and since the difference in these boundary conditions {𝑆𝑚 , 𝑆𝑖𝑚 } occurs in the in-
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 19 of 28

plane displacement (𝑢0 , 𝑣0 ) within the stretching subsystem only, it does not affect the
bending subsystem. That is, for movable and immovable plates, the NS formulation pro-
duces the same transversal deflection but different in-plane displacements. It is observed
also from Figure 4 that displacement distributions are non-symmetric in the x-direction
due to the variation in material properties in the x-direction (𝑛𝑥 ≠ 0).

(𝒂) 𝑺𝒎−𝑵𝑺

(𝒃) 𝑺𝒊𝒎−𝑵𝑺

Figure 4. Comparison of displacement distributions (𝑢̅0 , 𝑣̅ 0 , 𝑤

̂) based on neutral surface formula-
tion for movable and immovable simply supported BDFG 𝐴𝑙/𝐴𝑙2 𝑂3 square plates under a uniform
load.

4.2.3. Influence of Middle and Neutral Surface Formulations on Transverse Deflection

and Stresses
A BDFG square plate (𝑛𝑥 = 1, 𝑛𝑧 = {0,1,2,5,10}) subjected to bi-sinusoidal load is
considered under different boundary conditions. The obtained results of deflection and
stresses based on MS and NS formulations are compared for different 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎/ℎ
ratios. The following non-dimensional deflection 𝑤
̅ and stresses 𝜎̅𝑥 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝜏̅𝑥𝑧 are defined
as:

100𝐸𝑐 ℎ3 ℎ2 𝑎 𝑏 ℎ ℎ2 𝑏
𝑤
̅ = 𝑤𝑚𝑎𝑥 , 𝜎̅𝑥 = 𝜎 ( , , ), 𝜏̅𝑥𝑧 = 𝜏 (0, , 0) (76)
12(1 − 𝜈 2 )𝑞0 𝑎4 𝑎2 𝑞2 𝑥 2 2 2 𝑎2 𝑞2 𝑥𝑧 2

Results of non-dimensional deflection 𝒘 ̅ for both formulations (MS, NS) are com-
pared in Tables 3–5 for clamped, movable and immovable simply supported plates, re-
spectively.
The following conclusions can easily be derived from Tables 3–5.
1. For all values of 𝐸𝑐 /𝐸𝑚 , 𝑎/ℎ and different boundary conditions, the deflection in-
creases by increasing 𝑛𝑧 , which is expected due to the decrease of the ceramic vol-
ume fraction.
2. For all values of 𝑛𝑧 , 𝑎/ℎ and boundary conditions, the deflection increases by in-
creasing 𝐸𝑐 /𝐸𝑚 .
3. The deflections obtained based on middle and neutral surface formulations are
nearly identical (usually to four decimal places) for the cases of clamped and movable
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 20 of 28

simply supported plates. However, considerable deviations between the results of

the two formulations are observed in the case of immovable simply supported plates.
4. It is observed from Tables 4 and 5 that the computed transverse deflections based on
the NS formulation are identical for the movable and immovable boundary condi-
tions, as discussed in Section 4.2.2.

Table 3. Non-dimensional deflection 𝑤̅ of a BDFG square clamped plate subjected to sinusoidal

load based on middle surface formulation 𝐶(𝑀𝑆) and neutral surface formulation 𝐶(𝑁𝑆) at 𝑛𝑥 = 1
for different 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎/ℎ ratios.

𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟐 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟒 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟔

𝒏𝒛
𝒂/𝒉 𝑪(𝑴𝑺) 𝑪(𝑵𝑺) 𝑪(𝑴𝑺) 𝑪(𝑵𝑺) 𝑪(𝑴𝑺) 𝑪(𝑵𝑺)
0 0.1423 0.1423 0.1771 0.1771 0.1988 0.1988
1 0.1716 0.1716 0.2601 0.2600 0.3198 0.3197
2 10 0.1798 0.1798 0.2918 0.2917 0.3782 0.3780
5 0.1884 0.1884 0.3231 0.3231 0.4359 0.4358
10 0.1947 0.1947 0.3454 0.3454 0.4744 0.4744
0 0.1236 0.1236 0.1533 0.1533 0.1720 0.1720
1 0.1492 0.1492 0.2277 0.2277 0.2816 0.2815
2 100 0.1556 0.1556 0.2531 0.2530 0.3297 0.3295
5 0.1620 0.1620 0.2749 0.2749 0.3693 0.3692
10 0.1675 0.1675 0.2933 0.2933 0.3988 0.3988

Table 4. Non-dimensional deflection 𝑤 ̅ of a BDFG square movable simply supported

plate subjected to sinusoidal load based on neutral surface formulation 𝑆𝑚(𝑀𝑆) and middle
surface formulation 𝑆𝑚(𝑁𝑆) at 𝑛𝑥 = 1 for different 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎/ℎ ratios.

𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟐 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟒 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟔

𝒏𝒛
𝒂/𝒉 𝑺𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒎(𝑵𝑺)
0 0.3657 0.3657 0.4528 0.4528 0.5022 0.5022
1 0.4417 0.4417 0.6709 0.6710 0.8259 0.8262
2 10 0.4615 0.4615 0.7487 0.7488 0.9716 0.9721
5 0.4819 0.4819 0.8202 0.8203 1.1021 1.1023
10 0.4982 0.4982 0.8762 0.8762 1.1951 1.1952
0 0.3464 0.3464 0.4280 0.4280 0.4745 0.4745
1 0.4187 0.4187 0.6376 0.6377 0.7865 0.7868
2 100 0.4366 0.4366 0.7088 0.7090 0.9217 0.9222
5 0.4547 0.4547 0.7706 0.7707 1.0335 1.0337
10 0.4703 0.4703 0.8225 0.8225 1.1173 1.1174

Table 5. Non-dimensional deflection 𝑤 ̅ of a BDFG square immovable simply supported plate under
sinusoidal load based on middle surface formulation 𝑆𝑖𝑚−𝑀𝑆 and neutral surface formulation
𝑆𝑖𝑚−𝑁𝑆 at 𝑛𝑧 = {0, 1,2,5,10}, 𝑛𝑥 = 1 for different 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎/ℎ ratios.

𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟐 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟒 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟔

𝒏𝒛
𝒂/𝒉 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺)
0 0.3657 0.3657 0.4528 0.4528 0.5022 0.5022
1 0.4379 0.4417 0.6472 0.6710 0.7791 0.8262
2 10 0.4569 0.4615 0.7137 0.7488 0.8930 0.9721
5 0.4790 0.4819 0.7924 0.8203 1.0297 1.1023
10 0.4968 0.4982 0.8608 0.8762 1.1505 1.1952
0 0.3464 0.3464 0.4280 0.4280 0.4745 0.4745
100
1 0.4149 0.4187 0.6139 0.6377 0.7397 0.7868
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 21 of 28

2 0.4320 0.4366 0.6738 0.7090 0.8430 0.9222

5 0.4518 0.4547 0.7428 0.7707 0.9611 1.0337
10 0.4689 0.4703 0.8072 0.8225 1.0729 1.1174

Next, the influence of the two formulations (MS and NS) on the computed stresses
was investigated. Results of non-dimensional axial stress 𝝈 ̅ 𝒙 of BDFG (𝑛𝑧 =
{0, 1,2,5,10}, 𝑛𝑥 = 1) square movable and immovable simply supported plates subjected
to bi-sinusoidal load are reported in Table 6 for different 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎/ℎ ratios. It is clear
that in all cases, identical results (up to 4 decimal places) are produced based on either of
the two formulations when movable boundary conditions are assumed. However, for the
immovable boundary conditions, the non-dimensional axial stress 𝝈 ̅ 𝒙 based on MS and
NS may deviate up to 3% relative difference. It is important to note that for the NS formu-
lation, 𝜎̅𝑥 is different for movable and immovable boundary conditions in spite of the
previous observation of identical values of 𝑤 ̅. This is understood since 𝜎̅𝑥 depends not
only on the distributions of transverse displacement, but also on the in-plane displace-
ments which are different in the NS formulation for movable and immovable boundary
conditions.
Similar results are presented in Table 7 for 𝜏̅𝑥𝑧 , again showing identical values of the
MS and NS formulations for movable boundary conditions. Regarding the NS formula-
tion, it is observed that the values of 𝜏̅𝑥𝑧 are identical for movable and immovable plates.
This proves, since 𝜏̅𝑥𝑧 depends only on the distribution of transverse displacement, the
previous conclusion that the NS formulation produces the same transverse distribution
𝑤(𝑥, 𝑦) for movable and immovable boundary conditions (see Figure 4).

Table 6. Non-dimensional axial stress 𝜎̅𝑥 of BDFG square movable (𝑚) and immovable (𝑖𝑚)
simply supported plates subjected to bi-sinusoidal load based on middle surface formulation
(𝑀𝑆 ) and neutral surface formulation (𝑁𝑆) at 𝑛𝑧 = {0, 1,2,5,10}, 𝑛𝑥 = 1 for different
𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎/ℎ ratios.

𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟐 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟒 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟔

𝒏𝒛
𝑺
𝒂/𝒉 𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺 𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺 𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺 𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺 𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺 𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺 𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺 𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺 𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺 𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺)
0 0.1981 0.1981 0.1981 0.1981 0.1948 0.1948 0.1948 0.1948 0.1925 0.1925 0.1925 0.1925
1 0.2266 0.2266 0.2311 0.2273 0.2605 0.2605 0.2672 0.2641 0.2816 0.2817 0.2878 0.2880
2 10 0.2355 0.2355 0.2406 0.2360 0.2838 0.2838 0.2918 0.2876 0.3178 0.3180 0.3245 0.3259
5 0.2499 0.2499 0.2545 0.2501 0.3182 0.3182 0.3283 0.3206 0.3659 0.3659 0.3775 0.3719
10 0.2637 0.2637 0.2672 0.2638 0.3573 0.3573 0.3673 0.3584 0.4238 0.4238 0.4384 0.4271
0 0.1963 0.1963 0.1963 0.1963 0.1932 0.1932 0.1932 0.1932 0.1910 0.1910 0.1910 0.1910
1 0.2244 0.2244 0.2290 0.2252 0.2580 0.2581 0.2647 0.2616 0.2790 0.2791 0.2852 0.2854
2 100 0.2331 0.2331 0.2382 0.2337 0.2808 0.2808 0.2888 0.2846 0.3145 0.3147 0.3211 0.3226
5 0.2474 0.2474 0.2520 0.2476 0.3146 0.3146 0.3247 0.3169 0.3614 0.3614 0.3730 0.3674
10 0.2612 0.2612 0.2647 0.2613 0.3535 0.3535 0.3635 0.3546 0.4189 0.4190 0.4335 0.4222

Table 7. Non-dimensional stress 𝜏̅𝑥𝑧 of BDFG square movable (𝑚) and immovable (𝑖𝑚) simply
supported plates subjected to sinusoidal load based on middle surface formulation (𝑀𝑆 ) and neu-
tral surface formulation (𝑁𝑆) at 𝑛𝑧 = {0, 1,2,5,10}, 𝑛𝑥 = 1 for different 𝐸𝑐 ⁄𝐸𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎/ℎ ratios.

𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟐 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟒 𝑬𝒄 /𝑬𝒎 = 𝟔

𝒏𝒛
𝒂/𝒉 𝑺𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺)
0 0.2054 0.2054 0.2054 0.2054 0.1699 0.1699 0.1699 0.1699 0.1488 0.1488 0.1488 0.1488
1 0.2196 0.2196 0.2196 0.2196 0.1941 0.1941 0.1941 0.1941 0.1768 0.1768 0.1768 0.1768
2 10 0.2269 0.2269 0.2269 0.2269 0.2091 0.2091 0.2091 0.2091 0.1956 0.1956 0.1956 0.1956
5 0.2349 0.2349 0.2348 0.2349 0.2281 0.2281 0.2280 0.2281 0.2221 0.2221 0.2218 0.2221
10 0.2375 0.2375 0.2375 0.2375 0.2354 0.2354 0.2353 0.2354 0.2334 0.2334 0.2331 0.2334
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 22 of 28

0 0.2057 0.2057 0.2057 0.2057 0.1703 0.1703 0.1703 0.1703 0.1494 0.1494 0.1494 0.1494
1 0.2198 0.2198 0.2198 0.2198 0.1944 0.1944 0.1944 0.1944 0.1772 0.1772 0.1772 0.1772
2 100 0.2271 0.2271 0.2265 0.2271 0.2094 0.2094 0.2095 0.2094 0.1959 0.1959 0.2027 0.1959
5 0.2350 0.2350 0.2354 0.2350 0.2283 0.2283 0.2229 0.2283 0.2224 0.2224 0.2099 0.2224
10 0.2377 0.2377 0.2392 0.2377 0.2356 0.2356 0.2366 0.2356 0.2336 0.2336 0.2286 0.2336

4.2.4. Numerical Results for MS and NS Formulations under Different Boundary

Conditions
The following numerical experiments are performed to demonstrate the theoretical
conclusions given in Section 3.4. Detailed responses (𝑤(𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑢(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧), 𝑣(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧)) of
BDFG plates subjected to different BCs are computed based on MS and NS formulations.
First, we consider a clamped plate. An FG 𝐴𝑙/𝐴𝑙2 𝑂3 fully clamped square plate
(𝑎/ℎ = 100, 𝑛𝑧 = 0.5, 𝑛𝑥 = 0) under a uniform transversal load is solved using the neutral
surface (𝑁𝑆) formulation. Once the solution (𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑤(𝑥, 𝑦)) is obtained,
the response at every point (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) in the plate can be computed using Equation (16). By
substituting this solution in Equation (17), the in-plane displacements at the middle plane
𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) and 𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) are computed. The distributions
{𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦)}, {𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦)} and 𝑤(𝑥, 𝑦) are plotted from left to right in
Figure 5 using normalization (𝑢̅0 = 𝑢0 /𝑎, 𝑣̅0 = 𝑣0 /𝑎, 𝑤 ̅ = 𝑤/ℎ). As can be seen from Figure
5, although the in-plane displacements distributions on the neutral and middle planes are
different, they have the same boundary conditions (zero values in this case).
The same clamped plate problem is resolved based on the MS formulation for the
solution (𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦), 𝑤(𝑥, 𝑦)), which is substituted in Equation (17) to estimate
the displacements distributions on the neutral plane ( 𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦) and 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 (𝑥, 𝑦)). The ob-
tained solutions were found identical to those given in Figure 4. This is expected since,
although each formulation provides its own governing equations, they both apply the
same physical laws and are subjected to the same BCs as was discussed in Section 3.4 for
the case of clamped plates. The above experiment is repeated for a movable simply sup-
ported (𝑆𝑚 ) plate. The results generated by NS and MS formulations are identical and are
presented in Figure 6. Note that, according to the discussion in Section 3.4 for 𝑆𝑚 BCs, at
edges 𝑥 = 0, 𝑥 = 𝑎 , the condition 𝑣𝑜𝑀𝑆 = 0 implies 𝑣𝑜𝑁𝑆 = 0 . Similarly, on horizontal
edges 𝑦 = 0, 𝑦 = 𝑏, condition 𝑢𝑜𝑀𝑆 = 0 implies 𝑢𝑜𝑁𝑆 = 0. Next, the above experiment is
repeated for the case of an immovable simply supported (𝑆𝑖𝑚 ) BDFG plate. Figure 7 pre-
sents the obtained solutions based on MS and NS formulations showing different re-
sponses especially for in-plane displacements.
The observation of non-equal solutions of MS and NS formulations for 𝑆𝑖𝑚 FG plates
were expected theoretically in Section 3.4, and was interpreted as a result of the applica-
tion of non-identical BCs. To examine this interpretation, the modified BCs suggested in
Section 3.5 are applied. That is, the discretized governing equations based on the MS for-
mulation are updated by applying the modified boundary conditions (Equation (28)). The
obtained solutions are presented in Figure 8a. On the other side, the algebraic system cor-
responding to the neutral surface formulation is updated by applying the modified BCs
(Equation (29)). Upon solution of the updated algebraic system, the responses are plotted
in Figure 8b. It is observed from Figures 7a and 8b that, for (𝑆𝑖𝑚 ) BCs, the MS formulation
with the proposed modified BCs produces an identical solution to that of the NS formu-
lation. Moreover, Figures 7b and 8a show that the NS formulation with the modified BCs
(Equation (29)) produces an identical solution to that of the classical MS formulation.
These observations demonstrate the conclusion that both MS and NS formulations are
correct when they apply the same physical boundary conditions even for (𝑆𝑖𝑚 ) BCs if the
fixation constraint at different planes is treated properly.
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 23 of 28

Figure 5. Identical solutions generated by both MS and NS formulations. In-plane displacements

𝑢0𝑁𝑆 , 𝑣0𝑁𝑆 (blue surfaces) and 𝑢0𝑀𝑆 , 𝑣0𝑀𝑆 (orange surfaces) for a fully clamped square plate (𝑎/ℎ =
100, 𝑛𝑧 = 0.5, 𝑛𝑥 = 0).

Figure 6. Identical solutions generated by both MS and NS formulations for a movable simply
supported square plate (𝑎/ℎ = 100, 𝑛𝑧 = 0.5). In-plane displacements 𝑢0𝑁𝑆 , 𝑣0𝑁𝑆 (blue surfaces)
and 𝑢0𝑀𝑆 , 𝑣0𝑀𝑆 (orange surfaces).
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 24 of 28

Figure 7. Solutions generated by (a) MS and (b) NS formulations by the classical BCs (Equation (20))
for an immovable simply supported 𝑆𝑖𝑚 square plate (𝑎/ℎ = 100, 𝑛𝑧 = 0.5).

Figure 8. Solutions generated by (a) 𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑀𝑆−𝑚𝑜𝑑) : MS formulation using the modified BCs (Equation
(28)) and (b) 𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑁𝑆−𝑚𝑜𝑑) : NS formulation applying modified BCs (Equation (29)) for an immovable
simply supported square plate (𝑎/ℎ = 100, 𝑛𝑧 = 0.5).

Similar results are reported in Table 8, where a square 𝐴𝑙/𝐴𝑙2 𝑂3 immovable simply
supported plate under a uniform load is considered. Results of non-dimensional deflec-
tion 𝑤
̅ are reported for different values of 𝑛𝑧 based on different formulations: middle
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 25 of 28

surface formulation with classical BCs (Equations (53) and (54)) 𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑀𝑆) , neutral surface
formulation with classical BCs (Equations (53) and (54)) 𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑁𝑆) , middle surface formula-
tion with modified BCs (Equations (72) and (73)) 𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑀𝑆−𝑚𝑜𝑑) , and neutral surface formu-
lation with modified BCs (Equations (74) and (75)) 𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑁𝑆−𝑚𝑜𝑑) . As was proposed in the
analysis in Section 3.5, identical results are obtained using 𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑀𝑆−𝑚𝑜𝑑) and 𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑁𝑆) , since
both model the plate assuming fixation at the neutral plane, whereas each of 𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑁𝑆−𝑚)
and 𝑆𝑖𝑚(𝑀𝑆) apply the BCs at the middle plane. These results demonstrate that, for the
𝑆𝑖𝑚 plates, the modified BCs enable either formulation to obtain an identical response of
the other formulation.

̅ of an 𝑨𝒍/𝑨𝒍𝟐 𝑶𝟑 square immovable simply supported plate

Table 8. Non-dimensional deflection 𝒘
under uniform load based on the middle surface formulation 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) and the neutral surface for-
mulation 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺) , subjected to classical and modified (𝒎𝒐𝒅)BCs (𝒂/𝒉 = 𝟏𝟎𝟎, 𝒏𝒙 = 𝟎).
Classical BCs Modified BCs
𝒏𝒛
𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑴𝑺−𝒎𝒐𝒅) 𝑺𝒊𝒎(𝑵𝑺−𝒎𝒐𝒅)
Ceramic 0.4064 0.4064 0.4064 0.4064
0.5 0.5989 0.6282 0.6282 0.5989
1 0.7300 0.8154 0.8154 0.7300
1.5 0.8188 0.9525 0.9525 0.8188
2 0.8804 1.0449 1.0449 0.8804
3.3 0.9794 1.1672 1.1672 0.9794
5 1.0625 1.2359 1.2359 1.0625
10 1.2401 1.3564 1.3564 1.2401
Metal 2.2205 2.2205 2.2205 2.2205

5. Conclusions
This research is motivated by the conflicting conclusions in the literature about the
correctness of the mid-plane and neutral plane formulations for modelling FGM beams
and plates. The paper develops two mathematical formulations of the BDFG plate based
on MS and NS, then presents a critical examination of the two formulations under differ-
ent boundary conditions. A kinematic relation is assumed with the four-variable higher
order shear deformation theory. Hamilton’s principle is developed to get the equilibrium
equations based on MS and NS, which are solved by the differential quadrature method
(DQM). Both the theoretical analysis and the numerical results demonstrate that:
➢ The responses of BDFG plates based on the MS and NS formulations are different for
immovable simply supported (𝑆𝑖𝑚 ) BCs in contrast with the cases of clamped BCs
and (𝑆𝑚 ) BCs, where the responses are identical for both formulations.
➢ For immovable simply supported FGM plates, the NS and MS formulations solve
two different boundary value problems since 𝑆𝑖𝑚 BCs on the neutral plane are dif-
ferent from that at the middle plane. Therefore, the solutions generated using the NS
and MS formulations for immovable SS plates are different.
➢ The relation between displacement field variables of MS and NS are derived. Once
the solution is obtained on either the MS- or NS-plane, this relation is utilized to com-
pute the in-plane displacements on the other plane. In addition, this relation was the
key for defining the modified BCs that enable either formulation to obtain the same
response of 𝑆𝑖𝑚 plates using the other formulation.
➢ Based on the NS formulation, due to stretching–bending uncoupling, the computed
transverse deflection distributions are identical for 𝑆𝑚 and 𝑆𝑖𝑚 boundary condi-
tions. However, in-plane displacement distributions are different.
➢ Both the MS and NS formulations are correct when they apply the same physical
boundary conditions, even for (𝑆𝑖𝑚 ) BCs if the fixation constraint at different planes
is treated properly.
Mathematics 2023, 11, 2 26 of 28

Author Contributions: A.M. (project administration, funding acquisition, data curation, resources);
S.A.M. (software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, original draft); A.E.A. (formal analysis,
investigation, resources, original draft); R.A.S. (software, visualization, data curation, formal
analysis); M.A.E. (Conceptualization, methodology, review and editing). All authors have read and
agreed to the published version of the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the pub-
lished version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research was funded by the Institutional Fund Projects under grant no. IFPIP (1680-
135-1443).
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
Acknowledgments: This research was funded by the Institutional Fund Projects under grant no.
IFPIP (1680-135-1443). The authors gratefully acknowledge technical and financial support pro-
vided by the Ministry of Education and King Abdulaziz University, DSR in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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