Thermal buckling and postbuckling of functionally graded graphene-reinforced composite laminated plates resting on elastic foundations

This paper presents the modeling and analysis for the thermal postbuckling of graphene-reinforced composite laminated plates resting on an elastic foundation and subjected to in-plane temperature variation. A micromechanical model is used to estimate the temperature-dependent material properties of the graphene-reinforced composites (GRCs). Piece-wise functionally graded (FG) GRC layers along the thickness direction of a plate is considered in this study. Employing the higher order shear deformation plate theory, the governing equations for FG-GRC plates are derived and the effects of plate-foundation interaction and temperature variation are included in the modeling. A two-step perturbation technique is applied to obtain the buckling temperature and the thermal postbuckling load-deflection curves for perfect and imperfect FG-GRC laminated plates. The results show that the buckling temperature as well as thermal postbuckling strength of the plates can be increased as a result of the functionally graded graphene reinforcement for the plates.