Buckling analysis of stiffened functionally graded multilayer graphene platelet reinforced composite plate with circular cutout embedded on elastic support subjected to in-plane normal and shear loads

Buckling analyses of orthogonally stiffened functionally graded graphene platelet reinforced composite plate with circular cutout supporting on Winkler elastic foundation is conducted according to the third order shear deformation plate theory and the finite element method to achieve the desired solutions. Material properties of the composite plate are evaluated using Rule of mixture and Halpin-Tsai approach. Graphene platelet reinforcements and Poly methyl methacrylate matrix are considered as the two components of the composite media. The material of the stiffeners is selected the same as that of the polymer matrix. In one efficient case, adding a set of stiffeners increased the critical buckling load by 41.8 % with only a 10.3 % increase in weight of the structure. Influence of broad range of factors such as GPLs nanofillers distribution pattern and weight fraction, Winkler-type elastic foundation, uniaxial and biaxial normal and shear loads, plate thickness and aspect ratio, width, height and number of longitudinal and transverse stiffeners are reported in several tabular and graphical data in detail.