Isogeometric analysis for size-dependent nonlinear thermal stability of porous FG microplates

In this article, we present for the first time a research analysis for the size-dependent effects on thermal buckling and post-buckling behaviors of functionally graded material micro-plates with porosities (imperfect FGM) using isogeometric analysis. A seventh-order shear deformation plate theory associated with the modified couple stress theory (MCST) is particularly imposed to capture the size-dependent phenomenon within imperfect FGM micro-plates. The material properties of imperfect FGM micro-plates with three different distributions of porosities including even, uneven and logarithmic-uneven varying across the plate thickness are derived from the modified rule-of-mixture assumption. The nonlinear governing equation for size-dependent imperfect FGM micro-plate under uniform, linear and nonlinear temperature rise is derived using the Von-Kármán assumption and Hamilton’s principle. Through numerical example, the effect of temperature rise, boundary conditions, power index, porosity volume fraction, porosity distribution pattern and material length scale parameter on thermal buckling and post-buckling behaviors of FGP micro-plates are investigated.