Thermal buckling of cross-ply laminated composite shallow shells according to a global higher-order deformation theory

A two-dimensional global higher-order deformation theory is presented for the evaluation of critical temperatures in cross-ply laminated composite shallow shells subjected to thermal loading. The effects of prebuckling deformations of the shells subjected to a temperature change that is independent of the in-plane coordinates are taken into account in the present analysis. By using the method of power series expansion of continuous displacement components, a set of fundamental governing equations which can take into account the effects of both transverse shear and normal stresses are derived through the principle of virtual work. Several sets of truncated Mth order approximate theories are applied to solve the thermal buckling problems of a simply supported multilayered shell. Critical temperatures are shown for two cases of including the effects of prebuckling displacements and neglecting these effects. The modal stresses can be calculated by integrating the three-dimensional equations of equilibrium in the thickness direction, and satisfying the continuity conditions at the interface between layers and stress boundary conditions at the external surfaces. The present results are verified to be accurate enough for cross-ply laminated composite shallow shells through the convergence study and energy balance computations. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.