A general disk form formulation for thermo-elastic analysis of functionally graded thick shells of revolution with arbitrary curvature and variable thickness

The present research develops a general formulation for thermo-elastic analysis of a functionally graded thick shell of revolution with arbitrary curvature and variable thickness subjected to thermo-mechanical loading by using higher-order shear deformation theory. Mechanical properties except Poisson’s ratio are assumed to vary along a two-dimensional coordinate system with arbitrary functional distribution. Given that the thick shell is divided into some virtual disks and replacing various variable terms by their constant values, a set of differential equations for constant thickness are obtained for each virtual disk. By applying continuity conditions between the virtual disks, the general solution of the thick shell is obtained. The final relations are derived in general state for every arbitrary structure and material property distributions. Although previous publications presented a general formulation for thick shells of revolution, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, a closed-form solution is not provided.