Thermal and mechanical buckling analysis of FG carbon nanotube reinforced composite plates using modified couple stress theory and isogeometric approach.

Abstract This paper investigates the thermal and mechanical buckling analysis of functionally graded carbon nanotube reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) plates by using isogeometric analysis (IGA) based on modified couple stress theory (MCST). A refined hyperbolic shear deformation theory is used for buckling analysis, which satisfies free transverse shear stress conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of plate without a need for shear correction factor. The material properties of carbon nanotube reinforced composite plates are assumed to be temperature-dependent. For numerical analysis the IGA method using B-Spline or Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) functions is employed. The obtained results are compared with those available in the literature. Also, the influence of different parameters on mechanical and thermal buckling analysis is investigated. These parameters include material length scale parameter, boundary conditions, aspect and length-to-thickness ratios of plate, different types of FG-CNTRC distribution, volume fraction of CNTs and temperature dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]