The Instability Improvement of the Shape Memory Alloy Composite Plates Subjected to In-Plane Parabolic Temperature Distribution

The designs of thin structure components of aerospace vehicles require the consideration of thermal buckling and post-buckling problems. Thermal buckling of the structures in the aerospace environment may occur due to non-uniformly distributed temperature field. A finite element method study on the post-buckling of composite plates with embedded shape memory alloy wires was conducted. The plates were subjected to in-plane and through-thickness non-uniform thermal loadings where the non-uniform temperature distributions considered were parabolic in-plane and linearly varying through-thickness thermal loadings that may act separately or in combination. Recovery stress induced by the shape memory alloy was exploited to improve the thermal buckling behaviours of the composite plates. A non-linear finite element model along with its source codes that considered the recovery stress of the shape memory alloy, the non-uniform temperature field, the temperature dependent properties of the SMA and the composite matrix were developed. The post-buckling paths that showed the effect of the shape memory alloy on the thermal post-buckling behaviour of composite plates were generated using the source codes. It was found that the strain energy tuning method of the shape memory alloy greatly improved the post-buckling behaviour of composite plates subjected to the non-uniform temperature distributions.