Geometric Non Linear Analysis of Composite Shells Under Thermomechanical Load

Geometric nonlinear analysis of composite shells under thermomechanical load is reported here. From the literature, it may be seen that the thermal stress analysis of structural elements has continued to remain a research topic for a couple of decades. No one computationally verified the geometric non-linear buckling of composite shells under thermomechanical load using semiloof element. In this work, linear buckling analysis of Kari Thangaratnam (2) is extended to geometric non-linear analysis of composite shells under thermomechanical load. A general shell element called the semiloof shell element has been extended to thermal stress analysis of laminated shells. The formulation is based on nonlinear theory and the finite element method using semiloof element. The validation checks on the program are carried out using results on homogeneous isotropic shells available in the literature. The parameters considered in analysis are (1) number of layers in the laminate, (2) Lay-up sequence (symmetry, antisymmetry, cross-ply etc.), (3) Fibre orientation angle, (4) Different aspect ratios, (5) Orthotrophy ratio, (6) Boundary conditions (simply supported, clamped and combination of boundary conditions).