Unilateral and bilateral buckling of functionally graded corrugated thin plates reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets

This paper deals with the buckling behavior of corrugated thin plates made of multilayer functionally graded (FG) graphene nanoplatelets (GPLs) reinforced nanocomposites (FG-GPLRC) within the framework of classical plate theory. The GPLs are uniformly dispersed in each individual layer with its weight fraction following a layer-wise variation along the thickness direction. The effective Young modulus of each layer is determined by the modified Halpin-Tsai model while the Poisson's ratio is predicted based on the rule of mixture. It is assumed that the plate is subjected to either compression or shear or both on the edge. Analytical critical buckling solutions are obtained for both unilateral buckling when the plate is resting on a rigid foundation and bilateral buckling without the constraint of the foundation. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the influences of distribution pattern, geometry, size, and weight fraction of GPL nanofillers as well as the corrugated profile and rigid foundation on the buckling performance of the plate. It is found that the buckling resistance of the corrugated plate can be effectively enhanced by adding a small amount of GPLs into the matrix according to FGX distribution pattern and when the inclination angle is 45 degrees.