Nonlinear bending response of laminated composite spherical shell panel with system randomness subjected to hygro-thermo-mechanical loading

In the present paper, the effect of random system properties on transverse nonlinear central deflection of laminated composite spherical shell panel subjected to hygro-thermo-mechanical loading is investigated. System properties such as material properties, thermal expansion coefficients, hygro-contraction coefficients, load intensity and lamina plate thickness are taken as independent random variables. The higher order shear deformation theory and von-Karman nonlinear kinematics are used for basic mathematical formulation. The elastic and hygrothermal properties of the composite material, which are considered to be dependent on temperature and moisture concentration, have been obtained based on micromechanical modeling. A direct iterative based C0 nonlinear finite element method combined with mean centered first-order perturbation technique (FOPT) proposed by present authors for the plate is extended for the spherical shell panel subjected to hygro-thermo-mechanical loading. The influences of random system properties with plate geometry, stacking sequences, support conditions, fiber volume fraction and temperature, and moisture distributions on the response of laminated spherical shell panel are examined in detail. The performance of the proposed approach is validated through comparison with those available in the literature and independent Monte Carlo simulation (MCS).

► The HSDT with von-Karman nonlinear strain kinematics are used for basic formulation.
► The solution methodology is based on direct iterative based stochastic C0 nonlinear finite element method.
► Second order statistics of nonlinear central deflection of composite spherical shell panel is presented.
► Effects of shell panel geometry, support conditions, environmental conditions and loadings are analyzed.
► Results are validated with those available in literatures and independent MCS.