Thermal buckling of conical shells.

Abstract

The instability of truncated conical shells, due to thermal loadings, is studied using the Galerkin method to integrate the equilibrium equation. The thermal stresses which depend on the boundary condition and the temperature distribution are found before solving the buckling problem. Two cases are considered in this investigation. In one case, the temperature varies along the generator and the conical shell is restricted completely at both ends; whereas in the other case, the temperature changes in two principal directions and the cone is constrained along the perimeter, but free of resultant longitudinal force at boundaries. The edges are simply-supported. The relation of the critical temperature to the geometric parameters has been evaluated. Three parameters, are used, namely the radius-thickness ratio, the radius-height ratio, and the cone's vertex angle. The radius-thickness ratio has the most significant effect on the value of critical temperature.