Thermal Buckling Analysis of Composite Laminated Shells Using Higher Order Shear Deformation Theory

Thermal buckling analysis of orthotropic cross-ply laminated composite shallow shells is studied. The displacement field is evaluated using Reddy’s high-order shear deformation shallow shell theory. The governing equations for a single shallow shell with two opposite edges simply supported and the other two edges free, clamped, or simply supported are solved using Levy-type solutions. The state space technique is applied to find the critical thermal buckling load. Effects of some design parameters such as material mechanical properties, geometrical imperfections (shallowness ratio (R/a), thickness ratio (a/h), and aspect ratio (a/b)), and lamination schemes on thermal buckling are studied. The analyses have been done using MATLAB R2023a, and the results are compared with other research methodologies. The thermal buckling load increases as Young's modulus ratio (E1/E2) increases while it decreases with the increase of shallowness ratio, thickness ratio, and aspect ratio. The increase in the thermal expansion ratio (α2/α1) decreases the critical thermal buckling load.