The element free Galerkin (EFG) method has been successfully used for a wide variety of problems over the last few decades, but due to its high cost of computing, it is preferred to combine it with other methods having low computational costs such as the Finite Strip (FS) method. So, in this paper, a novel method is proposed by coupling EFG and classical FS methods for the static and buckling analysis of thin plates. The present method can have advantages of both EFG and classical FS methods. It is very easy to implement, and essential boundary conditions are easily enforced in FS sub-domain. The EFG method is based on the moving least-squares (MLS) approach. Therefore, the shape function does not have the Kronecker delta function property. In order to satisfy the combined conditions of displacement compatibility, a modified variational form is used based on the Lagrange multiplier method. In the FS sub-domain, three angular functions are used to approximate displacement field in the longitudinal direction of each strip. Finally, numerical examples are presented with different boundary conditions to demonstrate the effectiveness of the present coupling method.
