Thermoelastic vibration and buckling analysis of functionally graded piezoelectric cylindrical shells

This paper presents the report of an investigation into thermoelastic vibration and buckling characteristics of the functionally graded piezoelectric cylindrical, where the functionally graded piezoelectric cylindrical shell is made from a piezoelectric material having gradient change along the thickness, such as piezoelectricity and dielectric coefficient et al. Here, utilizing Hamilton’s principle and the Maxwell equation with a quadratic variation of the electric potential along the thickness direction of the cylindrical shells and the first-order shear deformation theory, and taking into account both the direct piezoelectric effect and the converse piezoelectric effect, the thermoelastic vibration and buckling characteristics of functionally graded piezoelectric cylindrical shells composed of BaTiO3/PZT − 4, BaTiO3/PZT − 5A and BaTiO3/PVDF are, respectively, calculated. The effects of material composition (volume fraction exponent), thermal loading, external voltage applied and shell geometry parameters on the free vibration characteristics are described, and the axial critical load, critical temperature and critical control voltage are obtained.