Buckling Response of Functionally Graded Porous Plates Due to a Quasi-3D Refined Theory

Abstract

A quasi-3D refined theory is used to investigate the buckling response of functionally graded (FG) porous plates. The present theory takes into consideration the effect of thickness stretching. Three models of FG porous plates are presented: an isotropic FG porous plate, FG skins with a homogenous core, and an FG core with homogenous skins. The FG porous material properties vary along with the thickness of the FG layer based on modified polynomial law. By using the principle of total potential energy, the equilibrium equations are obtained. The buckling response is determined for simply supported FG porous plates. Analytical investigations are verified to present the accuracy of the current quasi-3D refined theory in predicting the buckling response of FG porous plates. The effect of thickness stretching and several parameters such as porosity coefficients, mechanical loadings, geometric parameters, gradient indexes, and layer thickness ratios are discussed. It is observed that the current theory shows more accurate results for the buckling response of FG plates compared with other shear deformation theories.