Elastic Buckling of Moderately Thick Homogeneous Circular Plates of Variable Thickness

In this study, the buckling response of homogeneous circular plates with variable thickness subjected to radial compression based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory in conjunction with von-Karman nonlinear strain-displacement relations is investigated. Furthermore, optimal thickness distribution over the plate with respect to buckling is presented. In order to determine the distribution of the prebuckling load along the radius, the membrane equation is solved using the shooting method. Subsequently, employing the pseudospectral method that makes use of Chebyshev polynomials, the stability equations are solved. The influence of the boundary conditions, the thickness variation profile and aspect ratio on the buckling behavior is examined.  The comparison shows that the results derived, using the current method, compare very well with those available in the literature.