Thermal buckling of FG graphene platelet reinforced composite annular sector plates

An analysis on thermal buckling of composite laminated annular sector plates reinforced with the graphene platelets is examined in this research. It is assumed that the graphene platelets fillers are randomly oriented and uniformly distributed in each ply of the composite media. Effective elasticity modulus of the nanocomposite media is extracted utilizing the modified Halpin-Tsai procedure which takes into account the size effects of the graphene fillers. Using the von Karman type of geometrical nonlinearity and first order shear deformation plate theory, the governing equilibrium equations for the buckling of nanocomposite plates in sector shape under uniform temperature rise are established. Stability equations are obtained using the adjacent equilibrium criterion and solved by means of the generalized differential quadrature method. Numerical examples are given to study the effects of boundary conditions, weight fraction of the graphene platelets, and distribution pattern of the graphene platelets on critical temperature and the fundamental buckled shapes. Results represent that, with introduction of a small amount of graphene platelets into the isotropic matrix of the composite media, the critical buckling temperature of the plate may be enhanced.