Thermo-elastic analysis of a non-axisymmetrically heated FGPM hollow cylinder under multi-physical fields

This study deals with the two-dimensional steady-state response of a cylindrical shell made from functionally graded piezoelectric materials under multi-physical fields. The hollow cylinder is subjected to mechanical, electrical and non-axisymmetric thermal fields. Material properties vary continuously through the thick direction of the cylinder based on the power-law distribution of the reinforcement volume fraction. Using equations of equilibrium, strain–displacement and stress–strain relations in conjunction with the potential–displacement equation, a set of coupled differential equations is derived which are then numerically solved by the differential quadrature method to obtain the mechanical stresses in cylinder. In order to obtain the thermal stress distributions in the non-axisymmetrically heated cylinder the complex variable method is applied. The effects of external pressure and material in-homogeneity on the stresses, mechanical and electrical displacements and electric potential distributions are discussed in details. It has been found that increasing the external pressure of the cylinder decreases the electric displacement, justifying industrial application of such material as efficient actuators and sensors. Moreover, dimensionless Von Mises thermal stresses decreases with increasing the material in-homogeneity.