Thermal snapping of functionally graded materials plates

The nonlinear behavior of functionally graded materials (FGM) plates exposed to a high temperature environment on one side of the surface is investigated here using neutral surface-based first-order shear deformation theory. The material considered here is graded in the thickness direction and a simple power law based on the rule of mixture is introduced to study the temperature dependent effective material properties. Furthermore, the position of thermal stress-resultant is determined based on realistic temperature field across the thickness of the plate whereas the reaction resultant is assumed to act along the mid-surface. The nonlinear governing equations derived based on von Karman assumptions are solved using Newton-Raphson technique to analyze the nonlinear behavior of FGM plates under different temperature gradient. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.