Thermal Postbuckling Characteristics Of Angle-ply Laminated Truncated Circular Conical Shells

Abstract

Here, the nonlinear thermoelastic pre- and post-buckling characteristics of angle-ply laminated composite conical shells subjected to uniform temperature rise are studied using semi-analytical finite element approach. The finite element formulation is based on first-order shear deformation theory and field consistency principle. The nonlinear governing equations, considering geometric nonlinearity based on von Karman’s assumption for moderately large deformation, are solved using Newton-Raphson iteration procedure coupled with displace- ment control method to trace the prebuckling followed by postbuckling equilibrium path. The presence of asymmetric perturbation in the form of small magnitude load spatially proportional to the linear buckling mode shape is assumed to initiate the bifurcation of the shell deformation. The study is carried out to highlight the influences of semi-cone angle, ply-angles, number of layers and number of circumferential waves on the nonlinear prebuckling/postbuckling thermoelastic response of the laminated circular conical shells. The participation of axisymmetric and asymmetric modes in the total response of the shells is brought out through the deformation shape analysis.