Postbuckling Characteristics of Angle-Ply Laminated Joined Conical-Cylindrical-Conical Circular Shells

The postbuckling behaviour of angle-ply composite laminated joined circular conical-cylindrical- conical shells, subjected to external pressure, torsion, axial compression and thermal loading, is studied considering the variation of stiffness coefficients along the meridional direction in the conical sections. The analysis is carried out using the semi-analytical finite element method based on first-order shear deformation theory. The nonlinear governing equations are solved using Newton-Raphson iterative technique coupled with the displacement control method. An asymmetric perturbation in the form of a small magnitude load spatially proportional to the linear buckling mode shape is considered. The effect of semi-cone angle and number of circumferential waves on the prebuckling/postbuckling response of angle-ply laminated joined circular conical-cylindrical-conical shells is investigated. The effect of inclusion of rotation about normal to the middle surface in the strain-displacement relations is also studied