Nonlinear thermomechanical response of pressure-loaded doubly curved functionally graded material sandwich panels in thermal environments including tangential edge constraints

This paper investigates the nonlinear response of doubly curved functionally graded material sandwich panels resting on elastic foundations, exposed to thermal environments and subjected to uniform external pressure. The material properties of both face sheets and core layer are assumed to be temperature dependent, and effective material properties of functionally graded material layers 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. Formulations are based on first-order shear deformation shell theory taking geometrical nonlinearity, initial geometrical imperfection, Pasternak type elastic foundations, and tangential edge constraints into consideration. Approximate solutions are assumed to satisfy simply supported boundary conditions and Galerkin procedure is applied to derive expressions of buckling loads and nonlinear load-deflection relation. The effects of material, geometry and foundation parameters, face sheet thickness ratio, initial geometrical imperfection, thermal environments and degree of tangential restraint of edges on the snap-through instability, and nonlinear response of spherical and cylindrical functionally graded material sandwich panels are analyzed and discussed in detail.