Nonlinear buckling of torsion-loaded functionally graded cylindrical shells in thermal environment

Based on the nonlinear large deflection theory of cylindrical shells, this paper deals with the nonlinear buckling problem of functionally graded cylindrical shells under torsion load by using the energy method and the nonlinear strain-displacement relations of large deformation. The material properties of the functionally graded shells vary smoothly through the shell thickness according to a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituent materials. Meanwhile, on the base of taking the temperature-dependent material properties into account, various effects of external thermal environment on the critical state of the shell are also investigated. Numerical results show various effects of the inhomogeneous parameter, the dimensional parameters and external thermal environment on nonlinear buckling of functionally graded cylindrical shells under torsion. The present theoretical results are verified by those in literature. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.