The size-dependent thermal bending and buckling analyses of composite laminate microplate based on new modified couple stress theory and isogeometric analysis

The use of modified couple stress theory to simulate the size-dependent phenomenon of composite laminate microplate is commonly limited to simple boundary conditions and mechanical bending load. The small-scale effects on bending and buckling on composite laminate microplate under complex boundary conditions in thermal environment have not been understood fully in the literature. Hence, this research develops, for the first time, a model to overcome the above limitation through the combination of a new modified couple stress theory and isogeometric analysis (IGA). By solving the governing equation using IGA, the thermal displacement, stress and thermal buckling load for various material length scale parameters are obtained. To satisfy the continuous shear stress condition at the layer interfaces, the equilibrium equations as integrated in-plane stress derivatives over the thickness are imposed. In addition, the non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) satisfy the higher-order derivative of shape function using the equilibrium equation. Furthermore, to show the effectiveness of presented model for capturing the size effect on thermal bending and thermal buckling of multi-ply laminate microplate, the influences of fiber orientation, thickness ratio, boundary condition and the variation in material length scale parameter are investigated.