Thermal buckling of piezo-FGM shallow spherical shells

Thermal instability of shallow spherical shells made of functionally graded material (FGM) and surface-bonded piezoelectric actuators is studied in this paper. The governing equations are based on the first order theory of shells and the Sanders nonlinear kinematics equations. It is assumed that the property of the functionally graded materials vary continuously through the thickness of the shell according to a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituent materials. The constituent material of the functionally graded shell is assumed to be a mixture of ceramic and metal. The analytical solutions are obtained for three types of thermal loadings and constant applied actuator voltage. Results for simpler states are validated with the known data in literature.