Dynamic Thermal Postbuckling Analysis of Piezoelectric Functionally Graded Cylindrical Shells

Dynamic thermal postbuckling behavior of functionally graded cylindrical shells with surface-bonded piezoelectric actuators subjected to the combined action of thermal load and applied actuator voltage is analyzed using an incremental numerical technique. The shell is graded across the thickness according to a power law form function. The material properties of the functionally graded cylindrical shells are considered to be temperature dependent. The theoretical formulations are based on the classical shell theory with Sanders' nonlinear kinematic relations. Then, using Hamilton's principle, equations of motion are derived for the piezoelectric FGM cylindrical shell. A finite difference based method combined with the Runge-Kutta method is employed to predict the postbuckling equilibrium paths, and the dynamic buckling temperature difference is detected according to Budiansky's stability criterion. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the effects of the applied actuator voltage, shell geometry, volume fraction exponent of FGM, and the temperature dependency of the material properties on the postbuckling behavior of the shell. The results for simpler states are validated with the known data in the literature.