Abstract
The present work discusses buckling and vibration characteristics of axially functionally graded (AFG) graphene platelet (GPL) composite beams exposed to axially varying loads (AVLs). Timoshenko beam composition with five different types of axial grading GPLs subjected to six different types of AVLs are studied. The effective elastic properties are obtained using Halpin-Tsai model and the equations of motion are obtained following the Hamilton's principle. Then the equations are solved for buckling and vibration analysis using the Ritz method. Influences of nature of axial grading of GPLs and load, content of GPL, and structural boundary conditions are investigated through detailed parametric studies. It is found that the grading pattern of GPLs not only influences the buckling load, but also changes buckling mode shapes of the beam at specific type of AVL. Furthermore, results reveal that buckling and vibration characteristics of beam enhanced in case of AFGM-A type for most of the load cases studied. The proposed study will be helpful for the structural engineers to select the nature of graded distribution of GPLs for the given type of AVL and design the structural member.