Nonlinear vibrations of symmetric cross-ply laminates via thermomechanically coupled reduced order models

Thermomechanically coupled, geometrically nonlinear, laminated plates are addressed through a unified 2D formulation, by considering classical and third-order shear-deformable von Karman models, along with correspondingly consistent linear and cubic variations of the temperature along the thickness. Minimal dimension reduction of the mechanical problem is accomplished for symmetric cross-ply laminates, ending up for both models to a coupled three-mode reduced model with terms and coefficients of variable nature depending on the variety of mechanical and/or thermal excitations. Nonlinear vibrations of the classical model are investigated in conditions of thermal dynamics either passively entrained by the harmonically varying transverse load via the existing coupling terms, or also playing some active role owed to a temperature difference with respect to the surrounding medium.