Abstract: Aerospace vehicles are subjected to non-uniform
thermal loading that may cause thermal buckling. A study was
conducted on the thermal post-buckling of shape memory alloy
composite plates subjected to the non-uniform tent-like temperature
field. The shape memory alloy wires were embedded within the
laminated composite plates to add recovery stress to the plates. The
non-linear finite element model that considered the recovery stress of
the shape memory alloy and temperature dependent properties of the
shape memory alloy and composite matrix along with its source
codes were developed. It was found that the post-buckling paths of
the shape memory alloy composite plates subjected to various tentlike
temperature fields were stable within the studied temperature
range. The addition of shape memory alloy wires to the composite
plates was found to significantly improve the post-buckling behavior
of laminated composite plates under non-uniform temperature
distribution.