Nonlinear stability of sandwich beams with carbon nanotube reinforced faces on elastic foundation under thermal loading

In this research, post-buckling response of sandwich beams with carbon nanotube reinforced face sheets subjected to uniform temperature rise loading and resting on a two-parameter elastic foundation is investigated. A single-layer theory formulation based on the first-order shear deformation beam theory is used. Material properties of the media are obtained according to a refined rule of mixtures approach which contains efficiency parameters. Suitable for the large deformations, von-Kármán strains are taken into consideration. The elastic foundation is modelled as the Pasternak model which takes into account the shear interaction of the springs. Material properties of the face sheets are considered to be position and temperature dependent. The governing equations of the system are obtained using the Ritz method for various combinations of clamped, simply supported and sliding supported edges. Post-buckling equilibrium path of the beam is obtained according to an iterative displacement control strategy. Numerical results of the present study are compared with the available data in the open literature. Then, the numerical results are provided to explore the effect of side-to-thickness ratio, volume fraction of carbon nanotube, distribution pattern of carbon nanotube, the ratio of face thickness-to-host thickness, boundary conditions and elastic foundation