Nonlinear bending response of functionally graded plates under thermal loads

Nonlinear bending analysis of functionally graded plates subjected to uniform pressure and thermal loads is investigated using a 3-D finite element method. Material properties are varied continuously in the thickness direction according to a simple power law distribution. A three-dimensional solid element is used for more accurate modeling of material properties and temperature field in the thickness direction. The Green-Lagrange nonlinear strain-displacement relation is used to account for large deflection due to uniform pressure and thermal loads and the incremental formulation is applied for nonlinear analysis. The thermal loads are assumed as uniform, linear and sinusoidal temperature rises across the thickness direction. In numerical studies, the nonlinear bending responses of Al2O3-Ni FGM plates due to temperature field, volume fraction distribution, and system geometric parameters are presented, in detail.