Thermal buckling and postbuckling of laminated composite beams with temperature-dependent properties

The thermal buckling and postbuckling analysis of laminated composite beams with temperature-dependent material properties is presented. The governing equations are based on the first-order shear deformation beam theory (FSDT) and the geometrical nonlinearity is modeled using Green's strain tensor in conjunction with the von Karman assumptions. The differential quadrature method (DQM) as an accurate, simple and computationally efficient numerical tool is adopted to discretize the governing equations and the related boundary conditions. A direct iterative method is employed to obtain the critical temperature (bifurcation point) as well as the nonlinear equilibrium path (the postbuckling behavior) of symmetrically laminated beams. The applicability, rapid rate of convergence and high accuracy of the method are established via different examples and by comparing the results with those of existing in literature. Then, the effects of temperature dependence of the material properties, boundary conditions, length-to-thickness ratios, number of layers and ply angle on the thermal buckling and postbuckling characteristic of symmetrically laminated beams are investigated.