On the Dynamic Snap-through Buckling of Functionally Graded Spherical Caps

Abstract

Here, the dynamic snap-through buckling characteristics of clamped functionally graded spherical caps suddenly exposed to a thermal field are studied using finite element procedure. The material properties are graded in the thickness direction. The temperature load corresponding to a sudden jump in the maximum average displacement in the time history of the shell structure is taken as the dynamic buckling temperature. Numerical study is carried out to highlight the influences of shell geometries and material gradient index on the critical buckling temperature.