Thermal buckling of shallow/nonshallow piezoelectric-composite cylindrical shells

A thermal buckling analysis is presented for laminated cylindrical shells with surface mounted piezoelectric actuators under combined action of thermal and electrical loads. Derivations of the equations are based on the classical laminated shell theory, using the Sanders nonlinear kinematic relations. The analysis uses the Galerkin method to obtain closed form solutions for the buckling loads of shallow and nonshallow piezolaminated cylindrical shells. Temperature dependency of material properties is taken into account. Illustrative examples are presented to verify the accuracy of the proposed formulation. The effects of the various design parameters on thermal buckling loads are investigated.