Postbuckling and nonlinear vibration of composite laminated trapezoidal plates

The thermal effects on the buckling, postbuckling and nonlinear vibration behaviors of composite laminated trapezoidal plates are studied Aiming at the complex plate structure and to simulate the temperature distribution of the plate, a finite element method (FEM) is applied in this paper. In the temperature model, based on the thermal diffusion equation, the Galerkin's method is employed to establish the temperature equation of the composite laminated trapezoidal plate. The geometrical nonlinearity of the plate is considered by using the von Karman large deformation theory, and combining the thermal model and aeroelastic model, Hamilton's principle is employed to establish the thermoelastic equation of motion of the composite laminated trapezoidal plate. The thermal buckling and postbuckling of the composite laminated rectangular plate are analyzed to verify the validity and correctness of the present methodology by comparing with the results reported in the literature. Moreover, the effects of the temperature with the ply-angle on the thermal buckling and postbuckling of the composite laminated trapezoidal plates are studied, the thermal effects on the nonlinear vibration behaviors of the composite laminated trapezoidal plates are discussed, and the frequency-response curves are also presented for the different temperatures and ply angles.