Thermo-mechanical vibration and buckling analysis of porous FG sandwich plates with geometric discontinuity based on physical neutral surface.

The effect of thermo-mechanical load coupling and porosity distributions on vibration and buckling characteristics of Functionally Graded Sandwich Plates (FGSPs) with cutouts is investigated by Finite Element (FE) formulation. Two sandwich configurations are considered and physical neutral surface is incorporated due to material asymmetry. Novel dynamic approach is proposed to evaluate buckling loads. Results obtained are compared with experimental, numerical solutions in literature and revealed that the FGSP buckling capacity under thermomechanical loads improves on using ceramic with lower thermal expansion coefficient. Also, at higher temperature rises, buckling capacity increases due to increasing porosity content, whereas capacity reduces at lower temperature rises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]