A unified formulation for vibration analysis of functionally graded shells of revolution with arbitrary boundary conditions

This paper describes a general formulation for free, steady-state and transient vibration analyses of functionally graded shells of revolution subjected to arbitrary boundary conditions. The formulation is derived by means of a modified variational principle in conjunction with a multi-segment partitioning procedure on the basis of the first-order shear deformation shell theory. The material properties of the shells are assumed to vary continuously in the thickness direction according to general four-parameter power-law distributions in terms of volume fractions of the constituents. Fourier series and polynomials are applied to expand the displacements and rotations of each shell segment. The versatility of the formulation is demonstrated through the application of the following polynomials: Chebyshev orthogonal polynomials, Legendre orthogonal polynomials, Hermite orthogonal polynomials and power polynomials. Numerical examples are given for the free vibrations of functionally graded cylindrical, conical and spherical shells with different combinations of free, shear-diaphragm, simply-supported, clamped and elastic-supported boundary conditions. Validity and accuracy of the present formulation are confirmed by comparing the present solutions with the existing results and those obtained from finite element analyses. As to the steady-state and transient vibration analyses, functionally graded conical shells subjected to axisymmetric line force and distributed surface pressure are investigated. The effects of the material power-law distribution, boundary condition and duration of blast loading on the transient responses of the conical shells are also examined.