Vibration of postbuckled FGM hybrid laminated plates in thermal environment

This paper deals with the small- and large-amplitude vibrations of compressively and thermally postbuckled FGM plates with piezoelectric actuators in thermal environments. The electric field considers only the transverse component E-Z. Heat conduction and temperature-dependent material properties are both taken into account. The materials properties of substrate FGM layer are assumed to be graded in thickness direction according to a simple power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents, and the material properties of both FGM and piezoelectric layers are assumed to be temperature-dependent. The formulations are based on a higher-order shear deformation plate theory and general von Karman-type equation that includes thermo-piezoelectric effect. The equations of motion are solved by an improved perturbation technique. The numerical illustrations concern small- and large-amplitude vibration characteristics of postbuckled, midplane symmetrical FGM plates with piezoelectric actuators under uniform and nonuniform temperature fields. The effects of stacking sequence, volume fraction distribution, temperature change and control voltage on vibration characteristics are examined in detail. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.