A semianalytical finite element method for stress and deformation analyses of bi-directional functionally graded truncated conical shells.

On the basis of Reissner's mixed variational theorem, the authors develop a semianalytical finite annular prism method (FAPM) for three-dimensional (3D) stress and deformation analyses of bi-directional functionally graded (FG) truncated conical shells with various boundary conditions subjected to either uniformly or sinusoidally distributed loads. The material properties of the FG-truncated conical shell are assumed to obey a bi-directional power-law distribution of the volume fractions of the constituents through the meridian–thickness surface, the effective material properties of which are estimated using the rule of mixtures. Implementation of the current FAPMs shows their solutions converge rapidly and that the convergent solutions are in excellent agreement with the 3D solutions available in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]