EFFECT OF THE THROUGH-THE-THICKNESS TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION ON THE RESPONSE OF LAYERED AND COMPOSITE SHELLS

This paper considers the thermal stress problem of thick and thin multilayered cylindrical and spherical shells including carbon fiber reinforced layers and/or a central soft core. The following two cases are considered: (i) the temperature distribution in thickness direction is assumed linear; (ii) the temperature distribution in thickness direction is calculated via Fourier's heat conduction equation. Carrera's Unified Formulation and the Principle of Virtual Displacements are used to obtain the governing equations in the case of shells with constant radii of curvature subjected to established temperature conditions on their upper and lower surfaces. Both Equivalent Single Layer and Layer Wise models with an order of expansion in the thickness direction from linear to fourth order are considered. The importance of refined models for a correct evaluation of displacement and stress fields in multilayered shells can be noted. Furthermore, it has been shown that results obtained assuming a linear temperature profile in the thickness direction can be meaningless.