Torsional buckling and postbuckling of FGM cylindrical shells in thermal environments

A postbuckling analysis is presented for a functionally graded cylindrical shell subjected to torsion in thermal environments. Heat conduction and temperature-dependent material properties are both taken into account. The temperature field considered is assumed to be a uniform distribution over the shell surface and varied in the thickness direction. The material properties of functionally graded materials (FGMs) are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents, and are assumed to be temperature-dependent. The governing equations are based on a higher order shear deformation theory with a von Karman-Donnell-type of kinematic non-linearity. The non-linear prebuckling deformations and initial geometric imperfections of the shell are both taken into account. A singular perturbation technique is employed to determine the buckling load and postbuckling equilibrium paths. The numerical illustrations concern the postbuckling behavior of twist, perfect and imperfect, FGM cylindrical shells under different sets of thermal fields. The results reveal that the volume fraction distribution of FGMs has a significant effect on the buckling load and postbuckling behavior of FGM cylindrical shells subjected to torsion. They also confirm that the torsional postbuckling equilibrium path is weakly unstable and the shell structure is virtually imperfection-insensitive. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.