Samsam Shariat - M.Sc., R&D, Electrofan Company, Tehran, Iran. Mechanical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
Eslami - ASME Fellow, Professor, ME Dept., Amirkabir Univ. of Tech., Tehran, Iran. Mechanical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.

Thermal buckling analysis of rectangular functionally graded plates is studied in this paper. The equilibrium and stability equations of such plates are derived using the first order shear deformation theory. It is assumed that the mechanical properties of the plate are described by a power function of the thickness variable. The plate is assumed to be under two types of thermal loadings, namely; temperature gradient across the thickness and longitudinal temperature gradient. Resulting equations are employed to obtain the closed-form solutions for the critical buckling temperature change. The influence of transverse shear on buckling behavior of the plate is discussed.

Thermal buckling, FGM, Plate