Torsional buckling and postbuckling behavior of stiffened FG-GRCL toroidal shell segments surrounded by elastic foundation

Abstract

In this study, a new algorithm for the nonlinear buckling behavior of the stiffened functionally graded graphene-reinforced composite laminated (FG-GRCL) toroidal shell segments in the thermal environment surrounded by the elastic foundation and subjected to torsional load is introduced. The FG-GRCL shell segment is stiffened by the FG-GRCL ring and/or stringer stiffener system. Based on the Donnell shell theory with the Stein and McElman approximation, considering the von Karman geometrical nonlinearity and the anisotropic smeared stiffener technique for FG-GRCL stiffeners, the formulations to investigate the critical buckling load and postbuckling torsional load-deflection curves are determined. A new algorithm is fully developed by adding the effect of circumferential stress into the stress function. The significant effects of temperature, stiffener system, geometrical parameters, and elastic foundation are considered and studied in detail.