Post-buckling Analysis of Trapezoidal Panels Under Non-uniform Compression in Presence of Thermal Environment

The buckling and post-buckling response of trapezoidal panels under non-uniform compression and thermal environment are investigated here using finite element-based software ANSYS considering eight node shell element. Here, author considered the flat and trapezoidal panels and analyzed the stability characteristics of these structures under thermal and mechanical load with various boundary conditions. Firstly, determined the critical buckling load of isotropic trapezoidal panels under various loading conditions (uniform, parabolic, triangular and concentrated) in the presence of thermal load. The accuracy of present model is examined by comparing present numerical results with available published results. Thereafter, the post-buckling path of these thin-walled structures is also presented considering various boundary conditions such as fully clamped (CCCC), movable simply supported and immovable simply supported. Here, the effect of boundary conditions and loading conditions on the stability of trapezoidal flat and curved panels is investigated. Present results will be helpful to design engineers to design safe and reliable thin-wall structures under thermal and mechanical load.