EIGENVALUE BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONALLY GRADED GRAPHENE PLATELETS REINFORCED CORRUGATED WEBS

Corrugated webs are extensively used in various engineering fields. In this paper, a new novel class of multi-layered corrugated webs reinforced by non-uniformly distributed graphene platelets (GPLs) is proposed. Finite element method (FEM) is employed to investigate the eigenvalue buckling behaviours of the corrugated webs. The effective Young's modulus of the composites is calculated by modified Halpin-Tsai model and the Poisson's ratio and mass density are approximated by rule of mixture. Parametric study is conducted on the effects of several factors, including the number of layers, the wave shapes and the distribution, weight fraction and dimension of GPL, on the buckling behaviours of the corrugated web structures. Corrugated webs with three different wave shapes are considered in present study. It is indicated that circular wave shape is favourable in enhancing the buckling behaviours compared to sinusoidal and triangular wave shapes. The comparisons among the GPL distribution patterns as considered demonstrate that placing more GPL fillers near the surfaces of the structures is preferred to increase the buckling rigidity of the corrugated webs. Moreover, it is found that square GPLs have better reinforcing effects than their counterparts with rectangular shape and increasing the length-to-thickness ratio of GPL is beneficial for the reinforcing effects.