Despite the extensive use of thin-walled structures, the studies on their behaviours when exposed to extreme thermal environment are relatively scarce. Therefore, this paper aims to present the buckling analysis of thin-walled composite I-beams under thermo-mechanical loads. The thermal effects are investigated for the case of studied beams undergoing a uniform temperature rise through their thickness. The theory is based on the first-order shear deformation thin-walled beam theory with linear variation of displacements in the wall thickness. The governing equations of motion are derived from Hamilton's principle and are solved by series-type solutions with hybrid shape functions. Numerical results are presented to investigate the effects of fibre angle, material distribution, span-to-height's ratio and shear deformation on the critical buckling load and temperature rise. These results for several cases are verified with available references to demonstrate the present beam model’s accuracy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.