Nonlinear thermal buckling analyses of functionally graded circular plates using higher-order shear deformation theory with a new transverse shear function and an enhanced mesh-free method

초록

This study presents nonlinear buckling analyses of functionally graded (FG) circular plates in thermal environments using a mesh-free method. The thermal buckling response is formulated based on higher-order shear deformation plate theory in which a new transverse shear function is incorporated to better represent the displacement fields. An enhanced mesh-free radial point interpolation method (RPIM) in which the shape functions are constructed without any fitting parameters by virtue of the radial basis function in a compactly supported form is developed and utilized to explore the thermal buckling behavior. A radial basis function in a compactly supported form is proposed and included in the RPIM. Two types of FG circular plates with different FGM orientation, i.e., metal-ceramic FG circular plates and ceramic-metal FG circular plates, are considered in the analyses. The effectiveness and accuracy of the enhanced RPIM based on the higher-order shear deformation theory is first confirmed by simulating a numerical example found in the literature and comparing the results with the analytical solutions. Detailed parametric studies are then performed to investigate the effects of the volume fraction, plate thickness-to-radius ratio and metallic surface temperature on the critical buckling temperatures of FG circular plates subjected to various through-thickness temperature distributions. Results demonstrate that the enhanced mesh-free RPIM based on the higher-order shear deformation plate theory with the proposed transverse shear function can effectively predict the thermal buckling responses of FG circular plates, and that the volume fraction, plate thickness-to-radius ratio, bottom surface temperature and FGM orientation have considerable effects on the critical buckling temperatures.

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