Buckling and postbuckling behavior of shell type structures under thermo mechanical loads

Abstract

The thermo mechanical buckling and post-buckling behavior of layered composite shell type structure are considered with the finite element method under the combination of temperature load and applied mechanical loads. To account for through-thickness shear deformation effects, the thermal elastic, and higher-order shear deformation theory is used in this study. The refined higher order theories, that takes into account the effect of transverse normal deformation, is used to develop discrete finite element models for the thermal buckling analysis of composite laminates. Attention in this study is focused on analyzing the temperature effects on buckling and post-buckling behavior of thin shell structural components. Special attention in this paper is focused on studying of values of the hole in curved panel on thermal buckling behavior and consequently to expend and upgrade previously conducted investigation. Using finite element method, a broader observation of the critical temperature of loss of stability depending on the size of the hole was conducted. The presented numerical results based on higher-order shear deformation theory can be used as versatile and accurate method for buckling and post-buckling analyzes of thin-walled laminated plates under thermo mechanical loads.