Simple Solutions for Buckling of Conical Shells Composed of Functionally Graded Materials

Using Donnell-type shell theory a simple and exact procedure is presented for linear buckling analysis of functionally graded conical shells under axial compressive loads and external pressure. The solution is in the form of a power series in terms of a particularly convenient coordinate system. By analyzing the buckling of a series of conical shells, under various boundary conditions and different material coefficients, the validity of the presented procedure is confirmed.