Vibration and response behaviors of composite sandwich cylindrical shells with corrugated-honeycomb blended cores in inhomogeneous thermal environments

• A novel class of flawed functional gradient composite sandwich cylindrical shells with a corrugated-honeycomb blended core is tailored. • An analytical dynamic prediction model of the target structure under arbitrary boundary constraints undergoing a non-uniform thermal regime is developed. • The suitable model parameters are excavated for low computing costs, sufficient data output, and stable convergence of benchmark results. • Unreported transient response behaviors of such structures subjected to rectangular, exponential, triangular, and half-sine pulse loads and heat intrusion are disclosed. • Some design recommendations dedicated to improving natural frequencies and reducing response amplitudes and decay times are pointed out. In the present study, an original sandwich cylindrical shell structure composed of a corrugated-honeycomb blended core and functional gradient composite skins with even and uneven porosity defects is tailored for lightweight engineering components, where both the cylindrical honeycomb-corrugated cross-reinforced core and composite forms deliver novel design, optimization, and refinement schemes for associated sandwich shell structures. Accordingly, an analytical model for predicting and assessing the vibration and response behaviors of such structures is proposed to repair the absence of matched theoretical tools in the current market. Also, an inhomogeneous temperature field and various external loads as the endured environmental factors are introduced to enrich the prediction capacity and reference scope of the developed model. Herein, the refined equivalent mechanical parameters of the corrugated-honeycomb blended core are analytically formulated using a macroscopic homogeneity approach based on the strain energy invariant criterion, and the mechanical properties of functional gradient composite skins obeying the power, sigmoid, and exponential distributions are further determined, with even and uneven porosity defects being considered. Besides, the inhomogeneous temperature spreads at various locations in the core and skin parts are derived from the solutions of Fourier heat conduction equations. Employing the first-order shear deformation theory, the Green heat strain hypothesis, and the spring simulation technique, the analytical expressions of elastic strain, thermal strain, boundary potential, and kinetic energies are obtained, with the work generated by external loads included. Subsequently, the free and forced vibration solutions of such structures in the form of Jacobi polynomial displacement assumptions are reaped using the Rayleigh-Ritz and Newmark-beta computation routines. Convergence analyzes and comparison studies are conducted to ensure valid model parameters and output results. Lastly, the effect of the temperature spread on the inherent characteristics and vibration responses is disclosed, and optimal schemes of core configurations and skin material allocations are provided for the utmost vibration suppression capability.