The main aim of this research is to establish the algorithm for nonlinear thermo-mechanical buckling of sandwich functionally graded graphene platelet reinforced composite (FG-GPLRC) shallow spherical caps and circular plates with porous core under external pressure and/or uniformly distributed thermal load according to the higher-order shear deformation theory considering the von Karman nonlinearities. Sandwich spherical caps and circular plates are made by the porous core and two FG-GPLRC coatings and are assumed to be rested on an elastic foundation modeled by the Pasternak model. The equilibrium equation system in the form of nonlinear algebra can be approximately obtained using the Ritz energy method. The critical buckling loads and postbuckling curves can be explicitly determined. The effects of material parameters, geometrical parameters, porous core, and elastic foundation on thermo-mechanical buckling of sandwich spherical caps and circular plates with porous core and FG-GPLRC coatings are investigated and discussed in detail in the numerical investigation section.

A novel analytical approach for nonlinear thermo-mechanical buckling of higher-order shear deformable porous circular plates and spherical caps with functionally graded material (FGM) face sheets resting on Pasternak elastic foundation is presented in this paper. The circular plates and spherical caps are assumed to be subjected to uniformly distributed external pressure and/or uniformly distributed thermal loads, and the nonlinear higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) is used for largely thick plates and caps with the shell-foundation interaction modeled by Pasternak elastic foundation. The caps are assumed to be shallow with clamped boundary conditions. The total potential energy expression of structures is established and the Ritz energy method is used to solve the problem directly from the total potential energy expression. The expressions between external pressure–deflection, thermal load–deflection, and thermo-mechanical combined load–defection can be obtained using the iterative algorithms. The critical buckling loads and postbuckling behavior of plates/caps are investigated numerically. Significant effects of foundation, porosity, structure parameters on the nonlinear thermo-mechanical responses of circular plates and spherical caps are numerically investigated and discussed, and the complex tendencies of postbuckling strength of plates and caps are obtained.

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