In this paper, we propose a thermal buckling analysis of a functionally graded (FG) circular plate exhibiting polar orthotropic characteristics and resting on the Pasternak elastic foundation. The plate is assumed to be exposed to two kinds of thermal loads, namely, uniform temperature rise and linear temperature rise through thickness. The FG properties are assumed to vary continuously in the direction of thickness according to the simple power law model in terms of the volume fraction of two constituents. The governing equilibrium equations in buckling are based on the Von-Karman nonlinearity. To obtain the critical buckling temperature, we exploit a semi-numerical technique called differential transform method (DTM). This method provides fast accurate results and has a short computational calculation compared with the Taylor expansion method. Furthermore, some numerical examples are provided to consider the influence of various parameters such as volume fraction index, thickness-to-radius ratio, elastic foundation stiffness, modulus ratio of orthotropic materials and influence of boundary conditions. In order to predict the critical buckling temperature, it is observed that the critical temperature can be easily adjusted by appropriate variation of elastic foundation parameters and gradient index of FG material. Finally, the numerical results are compared with those available in the literature to confirm the accuracy and reliability of the DTM to determine the critical buckling temperature.
THERMAL BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONALLY GRADED CIRCULAR PLATE RESTING ON THE PASTERNAK ELASTIC FOUNDATION VIA THE DIFFERENTIAL TRANSFORM METHOD
