Buckling and nonlinear response of functionally graded plates under thermo-mechanical loading

In this work, a formulation for buckling and geometrically nonlinear analysis of functionally graded plates under thermo-mechanical loading is presented. The influence of high temperature environment on deflections due to mechanical loading as well the deflections produced by thermal loads acting alone or combined with mechanical loads is analysed. The implemented finite element model is based on a non-conforming triangular flat plate/shell element, with three nodes and eight degrees of freedom per node, associated with a higher order shear deformation theory. The solutions of some illustrative examples are evaluated involving the variation of volume fractions of constituent materials, temperature range and material combinations, which have significant impact on the deflections of plates. The numerical results obtained with the present model are presented and compared with alternative solutions.