Buckling of orthotropic micro/nanoscale plates under linearly varying in-plane load via nonlocal continuum mechanics

Buckling response of orthotropic single layered graphene sheet (SLGS) is investigated using the nonlocal elasticity theory. Two opposite edges of the plate are subjected to linearly varying normal stresses. Small scale effects are taken into consideration. The nonlocal theory of Eringen and the equilibrium equations of a rectangular plate are employed to derive the governing equations. Differential quadrature method (DQM) has been used to solve the governing equations for various boundary conditions. To verify the accuracy of the present results, a power series (PS) solution is also developed. DQM results are successfully verified with those of the PS method. It is shown that the nonlocal effects play a prominent role in the stability behavior of orthotropic nanoplates. Furthermore, for the case of pure in-plane bending, the nonlocal effects are relatively more than other cases (other load factors) and the difference in the effect of small scale between this case and other cases is significant even for larger lengths.