Axisymmetric static and dynamics snap-through phenomena in a thermally postbuckled temperature-dependent FGM circular plate

Thermal postbuckling analysis and the axisymmetric static and dynamic snap-through phenomena due to static/sudden uniform lateral pressure in a thermally postbuckled functionally graded material circular plate are performed in this research. Plate is formulated using the first order shear deformation plate theory. Thermo-mechanical properties of the plate are assumed to be temperature dependent where dependency is described according to the higher order Touloukian representation. Two types of temperature loading are considered. Uniform temperature rise and heat conduction across the thickness direction. The one dimensional heat conduction equation in the thickness direction is obtained and discreted via the central finite difference method. The obtained system of equations is nonlinear since the thermal conductivity itself is a function of the unknown nodal temperatures. Using the von-Kármán assumptions, the governing equations of the plate are obtained in a matrix representation with the aid of the conventional Ritz method whose shape functions are developed using the Gram-Schmidt process. At first thermal postbuckling analysis is performed which is a nonlinear problem with respect to both temperature and displacements. Afterwards, response of the bulged thermally postbuckled plate is obtained under the static and dynamic uniform pressure. Snap-through phenomenon may be observed in both static and dynamic loading cases, due to the immovability of the edge of the plate and the initial deflection caused by postbuckling deflection. To capture the snapping phenomenon and trace the path beyond the limit loads, cylindrical arch-length technique is used. In dynamic snap-through analysis, the effect of structural damping is also included. Numerical results of this study reveal that the structure is sensitive to the initial deflection caused by thermal postbuckling load. Increasing the temperature prior to mechanical loads enhances the snap-through intensity and also increases both the upper and lower limit loads. As shown, dynamic snap-through loads are lower than the static ones, however dynamic snap-through intensity is more than the static snap-though intensity. Furthermore, structural damping enhances the dynamic buckling loads of the plate and decreases the dynamic postbuckling deflection of the plate.