Nonlinear bending and postbuckling analysis of matrix cracked hybrid laminated plates containing carbon nanotube reinforced composite layers in thermal environments

The nonlinear bending and postbuckling behaviors of a hybrid laminated plate resting on a Pasternak elastic foundation in thermal environments are investigated in this paper. The plate is composed of conventional fiber reinforced composite (FRC) layers and carbon nanotube reinforced composite (CNTRC) layers. The CNTRC layer consists of reinforcing carbon nanotubes either uniformly distributed (UD) or functionally graded (FG) along the thickness direction. Transverse matrix cracking is introduced in the FRC and UD CNTRC layers and modeled by a refined self-consistent method. The governing equations of the plate are based on a higher order shear deformation plate theory with a von Kármán-type of kinematic nonlinearity and solved by a two-step perturbation technique. The plate-foundation interaction and thermal effects are also included. The material properties of both CNTRC and FRC layers are assumed to be temperature-dependent and are estimated by a micro-mechanical model. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of matrix crack density, foundation stiffness, temperature rise and in-plane boundary conditions on the nonlinear bending and postbuckling behaviors of antisymmetric hybrid laminated plates containing CNTRC layers.