Thermal post-buckling of functionally graded material Timoshenko beams

Analysis of thermal post-buckling of FGM (Functionally Graded Material) Timoshenko beams subjected to transversely non-uniform temperature rise is presented. By accurately considering the axial extension and transverse shear deformation in the sense of theory of Timoshenko beam, geometrical nonlinear governing equations including seven basic unknown functions for functionally graded beams subjected to mechanical and thermal loads were formulated. In the analysis, it was assumed that the material properties of the beam vary continuously as a power function of the thickness coordinate. By using a shooting method, the obtained nonlinear boundary value problem was numerically solved and thermal buckling and post-buckling response of transversely non-uniformly heated FGM Timoshenko beams with fixed-fixed edges were obtained. Characteristic curves of the buckling deformation of the beam varying with thermal load and the power law index are plotted. The effects of material gradient property on the buckling deformation and critical temperature of beam were discussed in details. The results show that there exists the tension-bend coupling deformation in the uniformly heated beam because of the transversely non-uniform characteristic of materials.