Dynamic Thermoelastic Response of Cylindrical Shells

Abstract

The dynamic, thermoelastic response of cylindrical shells to suddenly applied and rotating thermal inputs is investigated. Fully coupled, dynamic, thermoelastic cylindrical shell equations are derived using Galerkin’s method. Identical results were obtained independently using a variational theorem. Analytical solutions to these equations are formulated for finite-length and infinite-length cylinders. Numerical results for the response of infinite-length cylindrical shells to suddenly applied and rotating longitudinal lines of heat flux are presented. It is shown that for many thermoelastic problems involving moving thermal inputs that the maximum ratio of dynamic to quasi-static deflection can be much greater than two, that dynamic effects can be important for all thicknesses within the realm of thin shell theory, and that semicoupled theory gives incorrect results in some cases for which a fully coupled theory is required.