Size-dependent analysis of FG microplates with temperature-dependent material properties using modified strain gradient theory and isogeometric approach

This paper investigates the static bending and buckling behaviors of functionally graded microplates under mechanical and thermal loads by using isogeometric analysis (IGA) and modified strain gradient theory (MSGT). The material properties are assumed to be temperature-dependent and three different temperature rise patterns including uniform, linear and non-linear are considered. The material properties vary through the plate thickness based on the rule of mixture scheme. A refined hyperbolic shear deformation theory with four independent unknowns is used for analysis, which doesn't need a shear correction factor. For analysis the IGA using B-Spline or Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) functions can easily meet the C-2 continuity requirement. Various parameters are dealt with including power index, material length scale parameter, temperature rise patterns and material combination. The MSGT results are also compared with those obtained by modified couple stress and classical theories. The obtained results indicate that the two studied types of functionally graded microplates show different behaviors under thermal load and the type of functionally graded material is an important parameter for thermal analysis.