Asymmetric Thermal Buckling of Imperfect FGM Circular Plates with Rotationally Restrained Edge

The paper addresses the problem of asymmetric buckling of geometrically imperfect circular plates undergoing large axisymmetric deflections under thermal loading. The plate edge is assumed to be immovable in the radial direction and elastically restrained against bending rotation. The plate material is graded in the thickness direction and dependence of the material properties on temperature is taken into account. The governing equations are derived using the von Karman nonlinear plate theory and the concept of physically neutral surface. It is shown that, when subjected to increasing temperature, the plate initially bends into a figure of revolution and then buckles into asymmetric mode with local circumferential waves. To determine the critical temperature rise, a nonlinear eigenvalue problem is formulated by linearizing the governing equations about the axisymmetric state of equilibrium and solved using power-series expansions. The effect of temperature-dependent material properties, rotational spring stiffness and initial geometric imperfection on the critical temperature rise and buckling mode shapes is studied. </jats:p