Dynamic thermal buckling and postbuckling of clamped–clamped imperfect functionally graded annular plates

Dynamic thermal buckling and postbuckling of imperfect functionally graded material (FGM) annular plates are investigated based on the nonlinear plate theory. The transient temperature fields of the FGM annular plates under dynamic thermal loadings are obtained by Laplace transform in combination of power series method according to the theory of Fourier heat conduction. The nonlinear dynamic equations of large axisymmetric deformations are numerically solved by series expansions and Runge–Kutta method. The critical bucking and dynamic postbuckling responses are predicted by the maximum deflections of the FGM annular plates with positive or negative initial geometric imperfections. The effects of the loads, the material gradient and the initial geometric imperfections on the dynamic responses and the buckling critical temperatures of the FGM annular plates are analyzed in detail.