An effective, simple, and locking-free plate formulation is proposed to analyze the static bending, buckling, and free vibration of homogeneous and functionally graded plates. The simple first-order shear deformation theory (S-FSDT), which was recently presented in Composite Structures (2013; 101:332-340), is naturally free from shear-locking and captures the physics of the shear-deformation effect present in the original FSDT, whilst also being less computationally expensive due to having fewer unknowns. The S-FSDT requires C 1 -continuity that is simple to satisfy with the inherent high-order continuity of the non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) basis functions, which we use in the framework of isogeometric analysis (IGA).Numerical examples are solved and the results are compared with reference solutions to confirm the accuracy of the proposed method. Furthermore, the effects of boundary conditions, gradient index, and geometric shape on the mechanical response of functionally graded plates are investigated.

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This paper proposes a computational methodology for the integration of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and the Finite Cell Method (FCM) for models with "dirty geometries". FCM, being a fictitious domain approach based on higher order finite elements, embeds the physical model into a fictitious domain, which can be discretized without having to take into account the boundary of the physical domain. The true geometry is captured by a precise numerical integration of elements cut by the boundary. Thus, an effective Point Membership Classification algorithm that determines the inside-outside state of an integration point with respect to the physical domain is a core operation in FCM. To treat also "dirty geometries", i.e. imprecise or flawed geometric models, a combination of a segment-triangle intersection algorithm and a flood fill algorithm being insensitive to most CAD model flaws is proposed to identify the affiliation of the integration points. The present method thus allows direct computations on geometrically and topologically flawed models. The potential and merit for practical applications of the proposed method is demonstrated by several numerical examples.