THERMO-MECHANICAL BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF FINITE ELEMENT MODELED FUNCTIONALLY GRADED CERAMIC-METAL PLATES

In the present investigation, buckling analysis of functionally graded ceramic-metal (FGM) plates subjected to thermo-mechanical load is presented. The effective material properties of FGM plates are assumed to be temperature-dependent and vary in the thickness direction according to the power-law distribution of the volume fractions of the constituents. An improved higher-order shear deformation plate theory is employed to account for the transverse shear strains by maintaining stress-free top and bottom faces of the plate. An efficient C-0 finite element is proposed for the model, and the variational approach is utilized to derive the fundamental equations for the FGM plates. Convergence and comparison studies have been performed to describe the efficiency of the present model. The numerical results are highlighted with different system parameters and boundary conditions.