Temperature-dependent buckling analysis of sandwich truncated conical shells with FG facesheets

In this study, an improved high-order theory is presented for temperature-dependent buckling analysis of sandwich conical shell with thin functionally graded (FG) facesheets and homogenous soft core. First shear deformation theory (FSDT) is used for the facesheets and cubic functions are assumed for the transverse and in-plane displacements of the core. The nonlinear Von-Karman type relations are used to obtain the strain components. The equilibrium equations are derived via principle of minimum potential energy. Analytical solution for static analysis of simply supported sandwich conical shells under axial in-plane compressive load and in the temperature environments is performed using Galerkin's solution. Numerical modeling is made by ABAQUS finite element (FE) code. The comparison shows that the present results are in good agreement with the results in the literature and the present FE results. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.