Thermal post-buckling and nonlinear vibration analysis of FGM beams based on physical neutral surface and high order shear deformation theory

Thermal post-buckling and nonlinear vibration behaviors of FGM beams are analyzed by using concept of physical neutral surface, von Kármán strain-displacement relationships and high order shear deformation theory. Material properties are assumed to be temperature dependent and vary along the thickness. The prominent character of physical neutral surface higher-order shear deformation beam theory is that stretching-bending couplings are eliminated in constitutive equations, and governing equations have the similar forms as homogeneous isotropic beams. Approximate solutions are given out by Ritz method, and influences played by different supported boundaries, thermal environmental conditions and volume fraction index are discussed in detail.