Thermal postbuckling analysis of FG-CNTRC plates with various shapes and temperature-dependent properties using the VDQ-FEM technique

Using the ideas of variational differential quadrature and finite element methods (VDQ and FEM), a novel numerical approach is developed in this paper to investigate the postbuckling behavior of plates with arbitrary shape under the action of thermal load within the framework of higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). It is considered that the plates are made of functionally graded carbon nanotube reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC). By the proposed approach, the thermal postbuckling behavior of plates with arbitrary-shaped cutout can be modeled. The rule of mixture is utilized to obtain the effective material properties of nanocomposite which are considered to be temperature-dependent. To implement the proposed method that can be named as VDQFEM, the variational temperature-dependent formulation of problem is first developed. This formulation is presented using novel vector-matrix relations with the aim of utilizing in programming in an efficient way. In the context of VDQFEM, the space domain of plate is first transformed into a number of finite elements. In the next step, the VDQ discretization technique is implemented within each element. Then, the assemblage procedure is performed to derive the set of matricized governing equations which is finally solved by means of the pseudo arc-length continuation algorithm. One of the main novelties of present approach is proposing an efficient way based on mixed-formulation to accommodate the continuity of first-order derivatives on the common boundaries of elements for the used higher-order shear deformable plate model. Quadrilateral plate, skew plate, annular plate, square plate with rectangular hole and rectangular plate with circular hole under different boundary conditions including CCCC, SSSS, CSCS and CCSS (S: simply-supported, C: clamped) are considered in the numerical example. First, validation studies are presented in terms of critical buckling temperature of CNTRC rectangular plates with various CNT distribution patterns. It is shown that the proposed method has the advantages of standard VDQ technique including fast convergence rate, being locking-free and simple implementation. Moreover, it is capable of considering polygon and concave domains. Also, the effects of geometrical properties, volume fraction and distribution pattern of CNTs and temperature-dependency of material properties on the thermal postbuckling of plates are studied. (C) 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.