Postbuckling of a shear-deformable anisotropic laminated cylindrical shell under external pressure in thermal environments

A postbuckling analysis is presented for a shear-deformable anisotropic laminated cylindrical shell of finite length subjected to external pressure in thermal environments. The material properties are expressed as linear functions of temperature. The governing equations are based on Reddy's higher-order shear-deformation shell theory with the von Karman-Donnell-type kinematic nonlinearity. The nonlinear prebuckling deformations and initial geometric imperfections of the shell are both taken into account. The boundary-layer theory of shell buckling, which includes the effects of nonlinear prebuckling deformations, large deflections in the postbuckling region, and the initial geometric imperfections of the shell, is extended to the case of shear-deformable anisotropic laminated cylindrical shells under lateral or hydrostatic pressure in thermal environments. The singular perturbation technique is employed to determine the interactive buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. The results obtained show that the variation in temperature, layer setting, and the geometric parameters of such shells have a significant influence on their buckling load and postbuckling behavior.