LAUSR

Abstract In this paper, thermal buckling and free vibration of orthogonally stiffened functionally graded truncated conical shells in thermal environment is investigated. Conical shell has been stiffened by rings and stringers, and the influences of the stiffeners are evaluated by the aid of smearing method. The material properties of the structure are assumed to be changed continuously in the thickness direction. First, the initial thermal stresses are obtained accurately by solving the thermoelastic equilibrium equations. Then, by taking into account the initial thermal stresses, equations of motion as well as boundary conditions are obtained, applying the Hamilton’s principle and the first-order shear deformation theory. The natural frequencies of the system have been achieved, solving these governing equations with considering Differential Quadrature Method (DQM). In addition to Eigen frequency analysis, the critical buckling-temperature of the conical shell has been computed. Moreover, the effects of geometrical parameters, number of stiffeners, thermal environment and various boundary conditions on natural frequency of the system have been investigated. Finally, in order to validate the present work, the results are compared with those of other researches available in literature.