Buckling of FGM cylindrical shells subjected to pure bending load

In this paper, buckling behaviors of composite cylindrical shells made from functionally graded materials (FGMs) subjected to pure bending load were investigated. The material properties were assumed to be graded along the thickness. The non-uniform bending force on the shell section was considered in the buckling government equation of FGM cylindrical shells based on the Donnell shallow shell theory. The prebuckling deformation of the FGM cylindrical shells was neglected and the buckling mode was assumed to occur non-uniformly in local district along the shell circumferential direction. The eigenvalue method was used to obtain the buckling critical condition. The theoretical results were in excellent agreement with those of ABAQUS code. Results show that the inhomogenity of the materials is significant for buckling of FGM cylindrical shells. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.