Vibration of thermally postbuckled FG-GRC laminated plates resting on elastic foundations

Abstract

This paper investigates the small- and large-amplitude vibrations of thermally postbuckled graphene-reinforced composite (GRC) laminated plates resting on elastic foundations. The piecewise GRC layers are arranged in a functionally graded (FG) pattern along the thickness direction of the plate. The anisotropic and temperature-dependent material properties of the FG-GRC layers are estimated through the extended Halpin–Tsai micromechanical model. Based on the Reddy's higher order shear deformation plate theory and the von Kármán strain–displacement relationships, the motion equations of the plates are derived. The foundation support, the thermal effect, and the initial deflection caused by thermal postbuckling are also included in the derivation. A two-step perturbation approach is applied to determine the thermal postbuckling equilibrium paths as well as the nonlinear vibration solutions for the FG-GRC laminated plates. The numerical illustrations concern small- and large-amplitude vibration characteristics of thermally postbuckled FG-GRC laminated plates under a uniform temperature field. The effects of graphene reinforcement distributions and foundation stiffnesses on the vibration responses of FG-GRC laminated plates are examined in detail.