Nonlinear Torsional Buckling of Functionally Graded Carbon Nanotube Orthogonally Reinforced Composite Cylindrical Shells in Thermal Environment

Abstract

This paper deals with the nonlinear large deflection torsional buckling of functionally graded carbon nanotube (CNT) orthogonally reinforced composite cylindrical shells surrounded by Pasternak’s elastic foundations with the thermal effect. The shell is made by two layers where the polymeric matrix is reinforced by the CNTs in longitudinal and circumferential directions for outer and inner layers, respectively. The stability equation system is obtained by combining the Donnell’s shell theory, von Kármán nonlinearity terms, the circumferential condition in average sense and three-state solution form of deflection. The critical torsional buckling load, postbuckling load-deflection and the load-end shortening expressions are obtained by applying the Galerkin procedure. The effects of temperature change, foundation parameters, geometrical properties and CNT distribution law on the nonlinear behavior of cylindrical shell are numerically predicted. Especially, the effect of orthogonal reinforcement in comparison with longitudinal and circumferential reinforcement on the torsional buckling behavior of shells is observed.