A Closed-Form Solution for Thermal Buckling of Cross-Ply Piezolaminated Plates

A thermal buckling analysis is presented for simply-supported rectangular symmetric cross-ply laminated composite plates that are integrated with surface-mounted piezoelectric actuators and subjected to the combined action of thermal load and constant applied actuator voltage. The material properties of the composite and piezoelectric layers are assumed to be functions of temperature. Derivations of the equations are based on the classical laminated plate theory, using the von-Karman nonlinear kinematic relations. The Ritz method is adopted to obtain closed-form solutions for the critical buckling temperature. Numerical examples are presented to verify the proposed method. The effects of the applied actuator voltage, plate geometry and stacking sequence of laminates are investigated.