Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11012-021-01427-y (0123456789().,-volV)
( 01234567
89().,-volV)
A modified first shear deformation theory for three-
dimensional thermal post-buckling analysis of FGM plates
A. Hajlaoui . F. Dammak
Received: 1 April 2021 / Accepted: 2 September 2021 / Published online: 15 September 2021
Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2021
Abstract In this paper, the three-dimensional post-
buckling analysis of functionally graded materials
plate (FGM) with temperature independent (TID) and
dependent (TD) material properties under different
types of thermal loads is examined. The analysis is
performed by a modified first-order enhanced solid-
shell element. The formulation is based on the first-
order shear deformation theory (FSDT) with a special
representation of the transverse shear strains imposed
in the compatible strain part. To subdue locking
problems, two methods are employed the assumed
natural strain (ANS) method and the enhanced
assumed strain (EAS) method with a minimal number
of internal parameters. Numerical results of the
present research are compared and validated with the
existing studies on the thermal post-buckling of FGM
plates. Numerical results are also provided to explore
the effects of power-law index and different geomet-
rical parameters of the FGM plates subjected to
different types of thermal loads.
Keywords Solid-shell element  Modified FSDT 
FGM pates  Thermal post-buckling  Temperature-
dependent
A. Hajlaoui (&)  F. Dammak
Laboratory of Electromechanical Systems (LASEM),
National Engineering School of Sfax, University of Sfax,
B.P. 1173-3038 Sfax, Tunisia
e-mail: abdhajlaoui@gmail.com;
abdessalem.hajlaoui@enit.utm.tn
1 Introduction
In various engineering fields, there is consistently a
basic requirement for new materials with improved
properties. Recently, research on Functionally graded
materials (FGM) have become a hot spot in the field.
Due to the continual variations of properties in one or
more direction, the functionally graded materials can
get by in environments with high temperature gradi-
ents, while keeping up structural integrity. Further-
more, the FGM plates have been used as thermal
barrier for gas turbine rotating [1] or in thrust chamber
of aerostructures [2]. Thus already, the study of the
thermal stability behavior of FGM plates has recently
focused substantial attention in the literature.
The analytical methods have been widely used to
study the thermal stability behavior of FGM. Based on
the CLPT and using semi-analytical approach, Yang
and Shen [3] studied post-buckling response of FGM
plates with or without resting on Pasternak-type elastic
foundation. Based on the FSDT and Galerkin method
for both temperature dependent (TD) and temperature
independent (TID) material properties, Tung [4]
studied geometrical nonlinear thermal post-buckling
behavior of FGM sandwich plates resting on elastic
foundation. Shen [5] studied thermal post-buckling
response of functionally graded (FGM) plates with
simply supported edges and subjected to be temper-
ature dependent field.
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338
Based on Galerkin method, Duc [6] studied the
post-buckling response of shear deformable FGM
plates resting on elastic foundations based on HSDT.
Based on the concept of physical neutral surface and
HSDT, the post-buckling, nonlinear bending and
vibration of FGM plates were studied [7, 8] using
Ritz method.
Numerical methods have been shown as accuracy
and efficiency computational tools for nonlinearly
problems over the past few decades. Using an
implemented finite element model associated with a
FSDT, Na and Kim [9] analyzed the buckling and
post-buckling response of FGM plates. Based on
FSDT and using eight-noded C0 shear flexible quadri-
lateral plate element, Prakash et al. [10] analyzed the
post-buckling response of FGM skew plates under
different boundary conditions and Mori–Tanaka
scheme with temperature dependent material proper-
ties. Using FSDT model and Kriging meshless
method, Zhang et al. [11] thermal buckling of different
types of E-FGM plates. Using FSDT, Park and Kim
[12] developed nonlinear finite element equations for
nonlinear analyses on post-buckling behavior of FGM
plates in thermal environments. This work was
extended to study the post-buckling behavior of
FGM plates hygro-thermal environments [13]. Using
a modified FSDT-based four nodes finite shell ele-
ment, Trabelsi et al. [14–16] investigated a thermal
buckling behavior of FGM plates and shells. Using
higher-order shear deformation theory, Neves et al.
[17] combined the Carrera’s Unified Formulation with
the radial basis function collocation technique for -
free vibration analysis of functionally graded shells.
Using an implemented finite element model associated
with a HOSDT, Moita et al. [18] analyzed the buckling
behavior of FGM plates under mechanical and thermal
loads. Based on HSDT, Lal et al. [19] developed a
nonlinear formulation for post-buckling analyses of
FGM plates with TID and TD material properties.
Over the past few decades, CPT, FSDT and HSDT
have been extensively used for post-buckling analyses
of FGM plates. The major challenge of these theories
is to enhance the cost-effectiveness in computation. It
is in this context that our current approach is being
developed.
Many researchers have investigated thermal post-
buckling behavior of FGM shells using diverse
approaches and methods. However, to the best of our
knowledge, up to now, there are no works on thermal
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Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353
post-buckling behavior of FGM plates using solid-
shell elements based on FSDT. But to use the first
order shear deformation theory (FSDT), shear correc-
tion factor is required. To overcome this problem, a
special representation of the transverse shear strains is
chosen in the present solid-shell element formulation
for predicting the post-buckling behavior of FGM
shells, which reduces the computational cost. This
current approach ensures the correct transverse shear
strain energy unlike the approach proposed by Tanov
and Tabiei [20] where even in the case of isotropic
plates the transverse shear strain energy is different
from the exact solution. Considering that shear strain
distribution through the FGM shell thickness is
parabolic and vanish on top and bottom faces of the
shell, the proposed solid-shell element formulation has
computational advantages, since it uses only 5 internal
parameters.
The lack of formulation using a full three-dimen-
sional finite element modeling allowing studies ther-
mal post-buckling behavior of FGM structures
provided the motive for this article. Thermal post-
buckling behavior of FGM shells is carried out using a
full three-dimensional finite element modeling. In this
study, the temperature-dependent material properties
were considered to perform a thermal post-buckling
analysis. The performance of the present formulation
based on FSDT of solid-shell element is demonstrated
through comparisons with existing studies on thermal
post-buckling of FGM plates.
The body of the paper is outlined as follows.
Section 2 describes the material properties of FGM
shells used herein. Sections 3 and 4 describe the
fundamental and finite element formulations. Sec-
tion 5 shows numerical results and discussions of the
finite element model. Section 6 concludes the paper
with a few remarks.
2 Modeling of FGM material properties
FGM shell structures are often made from the
combination of the ceramic and metal. Material
properties varied in the thickness direction according
to volume fraction power law distribution such that top
layer is made up of ceramic provides high temperature
resistance due to its low thermal conductivity and
graded to ductile metal at the bottom surface. The
volume fraction is expressed as:
Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353
 p
1 z
Vc ð z Þ ¼ þ ; Vc þ Vm ðzÞ ¼ 1 ð1Þ
2 h
where z is the thickness coordinate measured normal
the shell from the mid-surface ðh=2  z  h=2Þ, h is
the thickness of the structure and p ðp  0Þ is the power
law index. Also, we denote by V, the volume fraction
of the components and the subscript m and c refer to
metal and ceramic components, respectively. The
material properties of FGMs are introduced as
EðT; zÞ ¼ Ecm Vc ðzÞ þ Em ; Ecm ¼ Ec  Em ð2aÞ
aðT; zÞ ¼ acm Vc ðzÞ þ am ; acm ¼ ac  am ð2bÞ
K ðT; zÞ ¼ Kcm Vc ðzÞ þ Km ; Kcm ¼ Kc  Km ð2cÞ
mðT; zÞ ¼ mcm Vc ðzÞ þ mm ; mcm ¼ mc  mm ð2dÞ
where E is Young’s modulus of elasticity, a is the
coefficient of thermal expansion, K is the thermal
conductivity and m is the Poisson’s ratio.
2.1 Temperature-dependent properties
Due to the common use of FGMs in high-temperature
environment, it is assumed that the properties of metal
and ceramic components are temperature dependent
and expressed as:
 
PðT Þ ¼ P0 P1 T 1 þ 1 þ P1 T þ P2 T 2 þ P3 T 3
ð3Þ
In the above equation, P is a characteristic of the
material such as E, a and K. P0 , P1 , P1 , P2 and P3 are
the temperature dependent coefficients.
2.2 Buckling of FGM shell under uniform
temperature rise through the thickness
Under uniform temperature rise through the thickness,
the critical buckling temperature of shell is given by:
DTcr ¼ Tf  Ti ð4Þ
where Ti is the initial temperature. Tf denotes the final
temperature in which the structure is buckled.
339
2.3 Buckling of FGM shell under Non-uniform
temperature rise across the thickness
The temperature field in the FGM shell follows the
steady-state heat conduction equation and the bound-
ary conditions are given by
8  
<d dT
kðT; zÞ ¼0
dz dz ð5Þ
:
T ðz ¼ h=2Þ ¼ Tm ; T ðz ¼ h=2Þ ¼ Tc
where kðT; zÞ is the thermal conductivity. The problem
Eq. (5) is nonlinear in the general case and can be
solved by the finite element method coupled with the
Newton–Raphson iterative method. In the particular
case where the thermal conductivity is independent of
the temperature, kðzÞ, the problem Eq. (5) has a closed
form solution given by
T ðzÞ ¼ Tm þ DT  gðzÞ ð6Þ
where gðzÞ is the temperature distribution function
expressed as
R z dz
h=2 K ðzÞ
gðzÞ ¼ R h=2 ð7Þ
dz
h=2 K ðzÞ
The integrals of this last equation can be calculated
using the Gauss integration method.
3 Kinematic of solid-shell element
In this section an 8-noded solid-shell concept featured
a duo of nodes at the top and bottom surfaces of the
element is described that circumvents the well-known
problems with the rotational degrees of freedom for
degenerated shell elements (Fig. 1). In the solid-shell
concept the parameter n and g are the in-plane
coordinates of the considered shell and f is the
coordinate in the thickness direction, see Fig. 1.
In this process, two types of configurations need to
be introduced with respect to the material configura-
tion (C), as illustrated in Fig. 2. The reference
(corresponding to t = 0) and current configurations
are denoted C0 and Ct, respectively. Thus, the position
vectors of a given material point in configurations C0
and Ct are identified as X and x, respectively are
expressed by
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340
Fig. 1 Geometry of solid-shell elements
X ¼ N Xn ; x ¼ N xn
where xn , Xn are nodal coordinates and N is the tri-
linear shape function matrix. The displacement field,
with the corresponding variation and increment, is
interpolated in a same manner as follows
u ¼ N Un ; du ¼ N dUn ; Du ¼ N DUn
where Un ¼ ½u1 ; v1 ; w1 ; :::u8 ; v8 ; w8 T is the vector of
nodal displacements at the element level.
The covariant base vectors are obtained from the
position vectors (X and x) by their partial derivatives
with respect to the convective coordinates
 1 2 3
n ; n ; n ¼ ðn; g; fÞ in reference and current con-
figuration respectively, are expressed by
dX dx
Gi ¼ i ; gi ¼ ; i ¼ 1; 2; 3
dn dni
Fig. 2 Curvilinear coordinates and convected base vectors of the reference configuration and the current configuration
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Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353
The metric coefficients of the reference ðGij Þ and
current ðgij Þ configuration are defined as follows
Gij ¼ Gi  G j ; gij ¼ gi  g j ; i; j ¼ 1; 2; 3 ð11Þ
where Gi and gi denote the contravariant base vectors.
Therefore, the Green–Lagrange strain tensor is com-
puted by the formula:
1 
E ¼ Eij Gi G j ; Eij ¼ gij  Gij ; i; j ¼ 1; 2; 3
2
ð12Þ
ð8Þ 4 Variational formulation and linearization
In this section, we propose a modified first order
enhanced solid-shell element formulation with an
imposed parabolic shear strain distribution through
the shell thickness in the compatible strain part. This
ð9Þ formulation is based on the three-field Hu-Washizu
variational principle and the idea of partition of strain
fields proposed by [23].
4.1 Variational basis
The variational basis of the finite element method
started by the well-known three-field variational
functional. This variational contains the displacement
field u, enhanced assumed strain E~ and assumed stress
ð10Þ
~
fields S. The quantity of total strain E is split into a
compatible part Ec and an enhanced part E. ~ FV and FS
Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353 341

are body and surface loads, respectively. w is the strain On the scope of these two methods (ANS and EAS),
energy function. our previous studies [33–35] have proved that they can
Z also be combined to obtain efficient and accurate
    c  
~ S~ ¼
P u; E; w E þE ~  S~ : E
~ dV elements. Using the same formulation, Fig. 3 summa-
V
Z Z rizes the implementation of these two concepts in
 FV :udV  FS :udA ¼ 0 enhanced and compatible strains parts. The ANS
V oVf method in this formulation is used in compatible part
ð13Þ c
for the thickness strain component (E33 ) and for the
c c
transverse shear strains (E13 and E23 ). In Fig. 4, the
The weak form, deduced from the three-field Hu-
transverse shear strain (A, B, C, D) and thickness strain
Washizu variational principle and orthogonality con-
R (A1, A2, A3, A4) interpolation points with given
ditions ( V S~ : EdV)
~ in order to reduce the number of
coordinates are defined. In the present formulation
independent variables in the original functional to just and based on the empirical approach of our previous
 
two u; E ~ , see [24], is the written as
works, the choice of the matrix Mngf in enhancing
  strain part will be considered with 5 parameters [35].
W u; E ~ ¼ dP
Z Z
 c 
¼ ~
S : dE þ dE dV  FV :dudV 4.3 Parabolic transverse shear strain
VZ V

 FS :dudA To overcome the problem of the distribution of the

oVf
¼0 transverse shear strains across the FGM shell thick-
ness, a parabolic shear strain distribution is imposed
ð14Þ on the compatible strain part in this formulation. To
where dEc and dE~ are the variation of the compatible ensure quadratic distribution of the shear strains in the
part and enhanced part of the strain field, respectively. proposed formulation, the shear function f ðzÞ is
Then the second Piola–Kirchhoff stress tensor S is chosen and inserted. In this manner, the need for the
expressed as shear correction factor is eliminated and the transverse
shear strains vanishes on top and bottom faces of the
S ¼ CðE  aðT; zÞDT 1Þ; 1 shells. Two polynomial functions can be used as shear
¼ ½ 1 1 1 0 0 0 T ð15Þ function f ðzÞ, Table 1.
   
The first shear function f ðzÞ ¼ 1  4z2 h2 is
where C is the 6  6 three-dimensional elastic mod-
ulus, aðT; zÞ is the thermal expansion coefficient and the one given in [36] and [37] using HSDT or in [20]
DT is the temperature change. using a modified FSDT. The second one
2
f ðzÞ ¼ 5=4 1  4z h2 is given in [38] and [39]
4.2 Strain field using HSDT. This last function is the one used in the
previous [40–42] and present modified FSDT, Table 1.
The fundamental problems of three-dimensional stan- Then the transverse shear strains become
dard hexahedral elements is their inability behave " #
c
2
B D
toward locking phenomena (transverse shear, mem- 2E13 ð 1  g ÞE þ ð1 þ g ÞE
c
¼ 5=4 1  4z h2 13
A
13
C
brane, thickness, volumetric and curvature). For that, 2E23 ð1  nÞE13 þ ð1 þ nÞE13
many techniques have been proposed in order to
ð16Þ
alleviate the locking effects. Among these techniques,
we distinguish the assumed natural strain (ANS) The virtual and incremental compatible Green–
method and the enhanced assumed strain (EAS) Lagrange strain tensor are then given by
method used by many specialists [25–32] among dEc ¼ B dUn ; DEc ¼ B DUn ð17Þ
others.
Relative to a node I, ðI ¼ 1; . . .8Þ, the B matrix as
follows: where T is the transformation matrix that the

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342 Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353

Fig. 3 Compatible and enhanced strains parts

Table 1 The shear functions

Theories Theory Shear function

[36, 37] HSDT f ðzÞ ¼ 1  4zh2

2

[20] FSDT
[38, 39] HSDT f ðzÞ ¼ 54 1  4zh2
2

[40–42] Present FSDT

stresses and strains on the material axis can be

Fig. 4 Transverse shear strain and thickness strain interpola- transformed to those of the structural axis, written as
tion points

2 3
gT1 NI;1
6 gT2 NI;2 7
6 4 
7
6 P   T 7
6 4 1 þ nL n
1
1 þ gL g gL3 NLI;3 7
6 7
BI ¼ TT 6
6
L¼1
T T
7
7 ð18Þ
6 h g2 NI;1 þ g1 NI;2 i 7
65 2 7
6 =8 1  4z h2 ð1  gÞ gB3 NBI;1 þ gB1 NBI;3 þ ð1 þ gÞ gD
T T T D T D
D 7
3 N I;1 þ g 1 NI;3
4 h i5
2
5= 1  4z 2 ð1  nÞ gA NA þ gA NA þ ð1 þ nÞ gC NC þ gC NC
T T T T
8 h 3 I;2 2 I;3 3 I;2 2 I;3

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Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353 343

2 3
ðt11 Þ2 ðt21 Þ2 ðt31 Þ2 2t11 t21 2t11 t31 2t21 t31
6 ðt12 Þ2 ðt22 Þ2 ðt32 Þ2 2t12 t22 2t12 t32 2t22 t32 7
6 7
6 ðt13 Þ2 ðt23 Þ2 ðt33 Þ2 2t13 t23 2t13 t33 2t23 t33 7
T¼6
6 t11 t12
7 ð19Þ
6 t21 t22 t31 t32 t11 t22 þ t12 t21 t11 t32 þ t12 t31 t21 t32 þ t22 t31 7
7
4t t t21 t23 t31 t33 t11 t23 þ t13 t21 t11 t33 þ t13 t31 t21 t33 þ t23 t31 5
11 13
t12 t13 t22 t23 t32 t33 t12 t23 þ t13 t22 t12 t33 þ t13 t32 t22 t33 þ t23 t32

The terms tij of the transformation matrix are given

as:

Table 2 Summary of some notation used

R R
L, H and K: The element stiffness matrices L¼ ~ T C B dV, H ¼ M
M ~TC M ~ dV,K ¼ KD þ KG
V V
R T
KD : the material tangent operator KD ¼ V B C B dV
R
KG : the geometric stiffness matrix dUTn KG DUTn ¼ V ST  DdEc dV
R R R R
f int , f ext and h: The external and internal force vectors f int ¼ V BT S dV, h ¼ V M ~ T S dV,f ext ¼ NT FV dV þ T
V oVf N FS dA

W þ DW:ðDUn ; DaÞ
tij ¼ Gi Tj ; i; j ¼ 1; 2; 3 ð20Þ " # 
T K LT DU n
where (T1 , T2 , T3 ) is the local Cartesian system. ¼ ½ dUn da 
L H Da ð21Þ
" #!
4.4 Linearization int ext
f f
þ ¼0
h
The iterative Newton–Raphson method is employed
here to solve the reduced nonlinear Eq. (14) as Table 2 summarizes some of the notation that we
follows: have employed.
Here, the geometric stiffness matrix KG is relative
to the couple of nodes (I, J):
Z
IJ
KG ¼ diag½ GIJ GIJ GIJ dV ð22Þ
V

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344 Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353

2 3
NI;1 NJ;1
6 7
6 NI;2 NJ;2 7
6 7
6 4 
P   7
6 L L 7
4 1 þ nL n 1 þ gL g NI;3 NJ;3
1
6 7
T T 6 L¼1 7
GIJ ¼ S T 6 7 ð23Þ
6 NI;1 NJ;2 þ NI;2 NJ;1 7
6 h i 7
6 5 2 7
6 =8  5z 2h2 ð1  gÞ NBI;1 NBJ;3 þ NBI;3 NBJ;1 þ ð1 þ gÞ ND ND þ ND ND 7
6 I;1 J;3 I;3 J;1 7
4  h i 5
5=  5z2 2 ð1  nÞ NA NA þ NA NA þ ð1 þ nÞ NC NC þ NC NC
8 2h I;2 J;3 I;3 J;2 I;2 J;3 I;3 J;2

5.1 Thermal post-buckling of FGM rectangular

Afterward, by using the static condensation proce-
dure, the strain parameters Da are removed from
Eq. (21). The material and geometrical parts of the
element tangent operator are assumed as
 
KT ¼ KD  LT H1 L þ KG ð24Þ
and the residual vector
R ¼ LT H1 hþf ext  f int ð25Þ
The critical buckling temperature is obtained by
solving the following eigenvalue problem:
 
KD  LT H1 L /¼kKG / ð26Þ
where / and k are the generalized global displacement
eigenvector and the eigenvalue, respectively. For post-
buckling analysis, an iterative incremental Newton–
Raphson method is used to obtain the response. The
flow chart of the solution process of the random post-
buckling problem is shown in Fig. 5.
5 Numerical results and discussion
In this section, numerical simulations are provided to
illustrate the efficiency of the proposed modified first
order enhanced solid-shell element for studying the
thermal post-buckling of FGM plates. Due to the
difficulty in imposing boundary conditions at the mid-
surface with only one hexahedral element in thickness
direction, the numerical results of thermal post-
buckling of functionally graded plates are only treated
with clamped conditions.
plate
For the clamped FGM rectangular plate with temper-
ature-independent material properties, the material
properties of Nickel (Ni) and Alumina (Al3O3), as
given in Table 3, are used in the numerical compu-
tations [9, 16]. The geometric properties of the
rectangular plate are as follows: length a, width
b and thickness h. To illustrate the accuracy and the
effectiveness of the present solid-shell element to
predict the thermal post-buckling behavior of FGM
rectangular plate, two cases are presented. The first
case, the uniform temperature rise test has been
conducted and the results are presented in Fig. 6.
The uniform temperature rise has been through the
thickness direction and the results of different power
law index p as observed from Fig. 6 are done using
32 9 32x1 mesh size.
Figure 6 examines the comparison of non-dimen-
sional deflection (w/h) results using present outlined
approach of clamped square FGM plate (a/h = 100, a/
b = 1) with those available in Ref. [9, 16]. Clearly, it is
seen that the present model results based on full three-
dimensional formulation are in good agreement with
the available numerical results using four-node finite
shell element [16] and 18-node solid element [9].
The second case, to validate the results of the
present model based on full three-dimensional formu-
lation, comparisons with some published results with
linear temperature distribution are made. Figure 7
examines the comparison of non-dimensional deflec-
tion (w/h) results using present outlined approach of
clamped square Ni/Al3O3 FGM plate (a/h = 100, a/

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Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353
Fig.5 Flowchart for Thermal Post-Buckling Analysis of FGM
plates
b = 1) under linear temperature distribution with those
available in Ref. [9, 16]. Clearly, it is seen that the
present model based on full three-dimensional
Table 3 Material
properties of Nickel (Ni)
and Alumina (Al2O3)
345
formulation demonstrates a good aptitude to predict
the post-buckling behavior of clamped FGM plates
under linear temperature distribution.
Figure 8 depict the non-dimensional deflections of
clamped FGM square plate under linear temperature
distribution for different power law index p. It is
observed that the non-dimensional deflections are
decreased as the power law indices are increased. The
lesser the power law index, the greater the degree of
deflection observed because a little power law index
causes less stiffness. As the power law index p is
increased, then the clamped FGM square plate
includes more ceramic portion than metal.
Figure 9 shows the effect of different values of the
aspect ratios a/b (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5) on the post-buckling
behavior of Ni/Al3O3 plates subjected to a uniform
and linear temperature distribution. It is found that, the
aspect ratio (a/b) was not a significant determinant of
the thermal post-buckling behavior for clamped FGM
plate. In the case of uniform temperature distribution,
the deflections are crossed for all aspect ratio, while
the deflections are crossed only for a/b [ 1 for linear
temperature case. The overlap of post-buckling curves
may be due to the multiple wrinkles observed for FGM
plates with the aspect ratio a/b [ 1 (Fig. 10).
5.2 Thermal post-buckling of annular FGM plate
The clamped annular FGM plate under uniform and
nonlinear temperature rise is considered for illustrat-
ing accuracy of prediction of thermal post-buckling by
the present modified first-order enhanced solid-shell
element. The analysis was conducted using Aluminum
(Al) (metal) and Alumina (Al2O3) (ceramic). This
FGM is a mixture of metal at the bottom surface and
ceramic at the top. The material properties of
Aluminum (Al) and Alumina (Al2O3) are given in
Table 4. The geometric properties of the annular plate
with both inner and outer edges clamped are as follows
(Fig. 11): inner radii Ri, outer radii Re and thickness h.
Material Properties
E (GPa) m Density (kg/m3) Conductivity (W/mK) Thermal expansion (/°C)
Ni 199.5 0.3 8900 90.7 13.3 9 10–6
Al2O3 393 0.25 3970 30.1 6.6 9 10–6
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346 Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353

Fig. 6 Non-dimensional 4
Metal_Present
deflection versus the Metal_Trabelsi et al (2018)
3.5 Metal_Na et al (2006)
temperature rise of a p=1_Present
clamped FGM square plate 3 p=1_Trabelsi et al (2018)
p=1_Na et al (2006)
under uniform temperature ceramic_Present
distribution (a/h = 100, a/ 2.5 Ceramic_Trabelsi et al (2018)
Ceramic_Na et al (2006)
b = 1)
2

w/h
1.5

0.5

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Temperature (K)

Fig. 7 Non-dimensional 3
Metal_Present
deflection versus the
Metal_Trabelsi et al (2018)
temperature rise of a 2.5
Metal_Na et al (2006)
clamped FGM square plate
ceramic_Present
under linear temperature 2 Ceramic_Trabelsi et al (2018)
distribution (a/h = 100, a/ Ceramic_Na et al (2006)
b = 1)
1.5
w/h

0.5

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Temperature (K)

Fig. 8 Non-dimensional 3
deflections of the FGM plate Metal
p=1
at different power law index 2.5
p=5
(a/h = 100, a/b = 1)
p=20
2 ceramic

1.5
w/h

0.5

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Temperature (K)

As part of the validation of the modified first-order
enhanced solid-shell element, the curves of critical
buckling temperature DTcr (K) as functions of power
law index p for a clamped annular FGM plate under
uniform and nonlinear temperature rise are plotted and
compared in Fig. 12 with the exact solution obtained
by Kiani and Eslami [43]. In this test, the shell
geometric parameters are taken as h/Re = 0.02, Ri/
Re = 0.3. As seen, there is an excellent agreement
between our results and those obtained by [43].

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Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353 347

(a) 4 (b) 3
a/b=1 a/b=1
3.5
a/b=1.5 a/b=1.5
2.5
3 a/b=2 a/b=2

a/b=2.5 2 a/b=2.5
2.5

2 1.5
w/h

w/h
1.5
1
1

0.5
0.5

0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250
Temperature (K) Temperature (K)

Fig. 9 Effect of aspect ratios (a/b) on the post-buckling of FGM plates (a/h = 100, p = 1): a under uniform temperature distribution;
b linear temperature distribution

Fig. 10 Effects of the aspect ratios a/b on postbuckling thermal deflected shape of FG plates (a/h = 100, p = 1). Left: uniform
temperature; Right: linear temperature

Figure 13 illustrates the thermal buckling mode shape power law index significantly affects the thermal
of the clamped annular FGM plate (h/Re = 0.02, Ri/ buckling modes.
Re = 0.3) under different types of thermal loads and In the case of nonlinear temperature rise, the
for various power law index (p). It becomes immedi- distribution across the thickness of the dimensionless
ately visible that the thermally loading type and the thermal transverse shear stress s23 ¼

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348 Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353

Table 4 Material Material Properties

properties of aluminum (Al)
and Alumina (Al2O3) E (GPa) m Conductivity (W/mK) Thermal expansion (/K)

Al 70 0.3 204 23 9 10–6

Al2O3 380 0.3 10.4 7.4 9 10–6

Fig. 11 Geometry of a functionally graded annular plate

Fig. 12 Critical buckling 600

temperature DTcr (K) versus Nonlinear_Present
the power-law index p of
annular FGM plate under the 500 Nonlinear_Kiani and Eslami (2013)
uniform and nonlinear Uniform_Present
temperature gradients (h/
400 Uniform_Kiani and Eslami (2013)
Re = 0.02, Ri/ Re = 0.3)
ΔTcr (K)

300

200

100

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
p

1000  s23 h=Re DTcr ð0; Ri ; zÞ for various values of
power law index (p), is illustrated in Fig. 14. Results
are compared with those obtained by a FSDT solid-
shell element [35]. The proposed modified first-order
enhanced solid-shell element yielded more accurate
results because it provides a parabolic distribution,
symmetric for isotropic material (p = 0) and antisym-
metric when the material becomes an FGM (p = 1, 5,
20), along the thickness. Compared with other first-
order solid-shell element, the present formulation can

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Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353 349

Fig. 13 Thermal buckling shape of annular FGM plate (h/Re = 0.02, Ri/ Re = 0.3). Left: uniform temperature rise; Right: nonlinear
temperature rise

Fig. 14 Dimensionless
thermal transverse shear
stress for the clamped
annular FGM plate under
nonlinear temperature rise

be used to predict the stress distributions accurately
and efficiently, particularly transverse shear stresses.
Figures 15 (a) and (b) show the results of the post-
buckling analysis of clamped annular FGM plate (h/
Re = 0.02, Ri/Re = 0.3) under uniform and nonlinear
temperature rise, respectively. In these figures, the
power law index ranges from 0 to 20 and w/h denotes
the dimensionless deflection. The dimensionless
deflection increases slowly when the temperature
DTcr (K) is below the critical buckling temperature

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350 Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353

(a) 500 (b) 1200

450

400 1000

350
800
300
ΔTcr (K)

ΔTcr (K)
250 600
p=0 p=0
200
p=1 p=1
400
150
p=5 p=5
100 p=10 p=10
200
50 p=20 p=20

0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
w/h w/h

Fig. 15 Thermal post-buckling paths for clamped annular FG (Al/Al2O3) plate under: a uniform temperature rise; b nonlinear
temperature distribution

(a) 3 (b) 3
p=0
p=0
p=1 p=1
2.5 2.5
p=5 p=5
p=10 p=10
2 p=20 2 p=20
w/h
w/h

1.5 1.5

1 1

0.5 0.5

0
0
0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1
0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1
y/Re y/Re

Fig. 16 Post-buckling configurations of the clamped annular FG (Al/Al2O3) plate under: a uniform temperature rise; b nonlinear
temperature distribution

(a) 600 (b) 1200

500 1000

400 800
ΔTcr (K)

300 600

200 400
TID_p=0 TD_p=0 TID_p=0 TD_p=0
TID_p=0.5 TD_p=0.5 TID_p=0.5 TD_p=0.5
100 200
TID_p=1.0 TD_p=1.0 TID_p=1.0 TD_p=1.0
TID_p=5.0 TD_p=5.0 TID_p=5.0 TD_p=5.0
0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
w/h w/h

Fig. 17 Thermal post-buckling paths for clamped annular FG plate: a uniform temperature rise; b nonlinear temperature distribution

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Meccanica (2022) 57:337–353
Table 5 Material property of the FGM constituents (SUS304 and Si3N4) [44]
Material Properties TD properties
P0
Stainless steel (SUS304) Em 201.04e?9
mm 0.28
am 12.330e-6
km 15.379
Silicon nitride (Si3N4) Ec 348.43e?9
mc 0.28
ac 5.8723e-6
kc 13.723
(see Fig. 12) and increases very fast after the emer-
gence of the buckling phenomenon. The larger the
power law index, the greater the degree of deflection
observed because a larger power law index causes less
stiffness.
The post-buckling configurations according to the
different power law index for clamped annular FGM
plate (h/Re = 0.02, Ri/ Re = 0.3) under uniform and
nonlinear temperature rise are shown in Figs. 16
(a) and (b), respectively. It can be seen that, for these
two types of thermal loading, ceramic annular (p = 0)
have the lowest deflections and so the stiffest flexural
behavior in post-buckling region. The dimensionless
deflection (w/h) maximum peak is located close to the
median radius (y/Re = 0.65) for homogeneous annular
(p = 0), or trends to move slightly toward the outer
radius, and will possess an asymmetrical profile for all
values of power law index (p).
Figure 17 shows the influence of temperature
dependency of material properties on the thermal
post-buckling behavior of clamped SUS304/Si3N4
annular plate (h/Re = 0.02, Ri/ Re = 0.3) for various
power law index (p) subjected to a uniform temper-
ature rise and nonlinear temperature distribution.
Typical values for the Young’s modulus, the Poisson’s
ratio and the thermal expansion coefficient of these
Stainless steel and Silicon nitride are listed in Table 5
(from Shen [44]). The results are reported for both
temperature-independent and temperature-dependent
material properties (Figs. 17 (a) and (b)). All the
results obtained indicate that taking into account the
temperature dependence of the material in the solution
process leads to a significant reduction in the critical
351
P-1 P1 P2 P3
0 3.079e-4 - 6.534e-7 0
0 0 0 0
0 8.086e-4 0 0
0 - 1.264e-3 2.092e-6 - 7.223e-10
0 - 3.070e-4 2.160e-7 - 8.946e-11
0 0 0 0
0 9.095e-4 0 0
0 - 1.032e-3 5.466e-7 - 7.876e-11
buckling temperatures, which is more palpable and
noticeable at higher temperatures. Moreover, it is
observed that the non-dimensional deflections are
decreased as the power law index are decreased. The
lesser the power law index, the lesser the degree of
deflection observed because a little power law index
causes great stiffness. As the power law index p is
increased, then the annular FGM (SUS304 and Si3N4)
plate includes more metal portion than ceramic.
6 Conclusion
This paper presents three-dimensional thermal post-
buckling analysis of FGM plates by a modified first-
order enhanced solid-shell element. The material
properties of plate and stiffeners are assumed to be
temperature-independent (TID) or temperature-de-
pendent (TD) and graded in the thickness direction
according to a power-law distribution. The proposed
model constitutes an amelioration in the FSDT via the
introduction of a simple transverse shear function
imposed in the compatible strain part. Based on this
shear function, the transverse shear strains filling the
parabolic shear strain distribution condition through
the thickness of FGM shell. In fact, this technique does
not require the use of shear correction factors.
Numerical examples are performed on FGM plates
(rectangular and annular) under different types of
thermal loads to verify the accuracy of the present
method. Finally, the influence of several geometrical
and material properties on the thermal post-buckling
behaviors of FGM plates were investigated.
123
352
Acknowledgements This work is carried out thanks to the
support and funding allocated to the Laboratory of
Electromechanical Systems (LASEM/LR99ES36) by the
Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
Declarations
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no
conflict of interest.
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