Thermal post-buckling of shells of revolution

Abstract

In this article, the thermal post-buckling of shells of revolution under the action of uniform thermal load is investigated. To discretize the problem, the semi-analytical finite element method has been employed. The nonlinear equations are then solved by means of the Newton-Raphson algorithm in conjunction with the Arc length method. The effect of initial imperfection is also considered. The results obtained from the present analysis are compared to the published results in the literature to show the accuracy and robustness of the present method in predicting the nonlinear thermal buckling of shells of revolution. © 2011 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.