Abstract

This paper is concerned with the buckling and free vibration behaviors of functionally graded (FG) porous nanocomposite plates reinforced with graphene platelets (GPLs). The porous plates are constructed based on a multiplayer model with GPLs uniformly or non-uniformly distributed in the metal matrix containing open-cell internal pores. The modified Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model, the extended rule of mixture, and the typical mechanical properties of open-cell metal foams are used to determine the effective properties of the porous nanocomposite. By using the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) to account for the transverse shear strain and Chebyshev-Ritz method to discretize the displacement fields, the governing equations are derived and then solved to calculate the critical uniaxial, biaxial and shear buckling loads and natural frequencies of the plates with different porosity distributions and GPL dispersion patterns. After a convergence and validation study to verify the present analysis, a comprehensive parametric investigation on the influences of the weight fraction and geometric parameters of GPL nanofiller and the porosity coefficient is conducted to identify the most effective way to achieve improved buckling and vibration resistances of the porous nanocomposite plate.