Thermal buckling of functionally graded plates

Equilibrium and stability equations of a rectangular plate made of functionally graded material under thermal loads are derived, based on the classical plate theory. When it is assumed that the material properties vary as a power form of thickness coordinate variable z and when the variational method is used, the system of fundamental differential equations is established. The derived equilibrium and stability equations for functionally graded plates are identical with the equations for homogeneous plates. Buckling analysis of functionally graded plates under four types of thermal loads is carried out resulting in closed-form solutions. The buckling loads are reduced to the critical buckling temperature relations for functionally graded plates with linear composition of constituent materials and homogeneous plates. The results are validated with the reduction of the buckling relations for functionally graded plates to those of isotropic homogeneous plates given in the literature.