Buckling analysis of a single-layer graphene sheet embedded in an elastic medium based on nonlocal Mindlin plate theory

The effect of length scale on buckling behavior of a single-layer graphene sheet embedded in a Pasternak elastic medium is investigated using a nonlocal Mindlin plate theory. An explicit solution is extracted for the buckling loads of graphene sheet and the influence of the nonlocal parameter and aspect ratio on dimensionless buckling loads is presented. It is found that the nonlocal assumptions exhibit larger buckling loads and stiffness of elastic medium in comparison to classical plate theory. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.