A meshfree formulation for size-dependent thermal buckling and post-buckling behaviour of porous microplates on elastic foundation subjected to localized heating

Abstract

The semi-analytical framework is developed for in-plane thermal stresses within the microplates under localized heating. Localized heating is modelled using Fourier Series expansions over the complete domain of the plate. These stresses within the plate are estimated after solving the in-plane thermoelasticity problem using Airy's stress approach. Utilizing these stresses, present work also studies the buckling and post-buckling behaviour of a porous metal foam microplate resting on Winkler and Pasternak elastic foundations. The plate is modelled using Reddy's third-order shear deformation theory (TSDT) and von Kármán geometric nonlinearity, and the size-dependent effects are included using the modified strain gradient theory (MSGT). Galerkin's weighted residual method converts the partial differential equations (PDEs) into algebraic equations. The post-buckling equilibrium path is obtained using the modified Newton-Raphson method. The mode shapes of the microplate for the various configurations of the plate with different boundary conditions due to localized thermal loading are plotted. Also, these mode shapes are compared with the mode shapes of the microplate due to in-plane mechanical loading. The parametric effect of porosity, elastic foundation parameters, thickness of plate, size of plate, boundary conditions and loading concentrations on the buckling and post-buckling behaviour of the plate is studied.