Nonlinear thermal-mechanical coupled isogeometric analysis for GPLs reinforced functionally graded porous plates

This work presents an isogeometric model for thermal-mechanical coupled analysis of geometrically nonlinear responses of graphene platelets reinforced functionally graded porous (GPLs-FGP) plates. The closed-cell Gaussian random field (GRF) scheme, Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model and rule of mixture are utilized to determine the material properties of GPLs-FGP plates with three types of porosity distribution and GPLs dispersion pattern. Unlike previous studies, the influences of GPLs and porosity on the thermal conductivity of GPLs-FGP plates are considered simultaneously. A geometrically nonlinear isogeometric analysis (IGA) model is developed base on a four-variable refined plate theory (RPT), using the von K & aacute;rm & aacute;n nonlinear theory, Hamilton's principle and Total Lagrangian (TL) incremental scheme. After ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the present model through comparison with several examples, the thermal conductivity, temperature distribution, geometrically nonlinear static bending and transient responses of the plate, taking into account the temperature effects of porosity and graphene under thermal-mechanical loads are investigated. Numerical results show that porosity exerts influences on the thermal conductivity and temperature distribution of GPLsFGP plates, which subsequently impact their geometrically nonlinear thermal-mechanical coupled responses. The results of this study are helpful for designing and manufacturing GPLs-FGP structures with improved performance.