• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.295-316
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• 2017

Element based differential quadrature method (EDQM) has been applied to analyze static, stability and free vibration of non-homogeneous orthotropic rectangular plates of variable or stepped thickness. The Young's modulus and the density are assumed to vary in exponential form in X-direction whereas the thickness is assumed to vary linear, parabolic or exponential variation in one or two directions. In-plane loading is assumed to vary linearly. Various combinations of clamped, simply supported and free edge conditions (regular and irregular boundary) have been considered. Continuous plates could also be handled with ease. In this paper, formulation for equilibrium, buckling and free vibration problems is discussed and several numerical examples are solved using EDQM and compared with the published results.