A new and simple HSDT for thermal stability analysis of FG sandwich plates

The novelty of this work is the use of a new displacement field that includes undetermined integral terms for analyzing thermal buckling response of functionally graded (FG) sandwich plates. The proposed kinematic uses only four variables, which is even less than the first shear deformation theory (FSDT) and the conventional higher shear deformation theories (HSDTs). The theory considers a trigonometric variation of transverse shear stress and verifies the traction free boundary conditions without employing the shear correction factors. Material properties of the sandwich plate faces are considered to be graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power-law variation in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The core layer is still homogeneous and made of an isotropic material. The thermal loads are assumed as uniform, linear and non-linear temperature rises within the thickness direction. An energy based variational principle is employed to derive the governing equations as an eigenvalue problem. The validation of the present work is checked by comparing the obtained results the available ones in the literature. The influences of aspect and thickness ratios, material index, loading type, and sandwich plate type on the critical buckling are all discussed.