Determination of Buckling Temperatures for Elliptical FGM Plates with Variable Thicknesses

In this paper, the thermal buckling loads of elliptical thin plates made of functionally graded material (FGM) with thicknesses that vary parabolically are examined. The aim is to study the effect of parabolic thickness variations in the directions of both axes on the thermal buckling of FGM plates. In the analyses, the boundaries are assumed to be simply supported and clamped. Rayleigh-Ritz method is applied to solve the partial differential equations. The Poisson’s ratios of the plates are kept constant, but their moduli of elasticity and thermal expansion coefficients are assumed to vary functionally in the thickness direction due to the material characteristics of FGMs. The study is carried out for several plate aspect ratios. Thermal buckling results of elliptical FGM plates with parabolically varying thicknesses are determined and the critical temperatures of those plates are obtained