Thermal gradient effect on the free vibration of a cardioid cross-section cylindrical shell

For the first time, a new cross-section profile and efficient method are developed for the vibration analysis of isotropic and orthotropic cylindrical shells having circumferentially varying profile of a cardioid cross-section expressed as an arbitrary function, under thermal gradient effect. The governing equations of orthotropic cylindrical shells with varying thermal gradient around its circumference are derived as a boundary-value problem and solved numerically as an initial-value problem, based on the framework of Flügge's shell theory, transfer matrix approach and Romberg integration method. As a semi-analytical procedure, the trigonometric functions are used with Fourier's approach to approximate the solution in the longitudinal direction and also to reduce the two-dimensional problem to one-dimensional one. The thermal gradient is assumed to arise due to the variation of Young's moduli and shear modulus, along the circumferential direction of the shell. The results are obtained to indicate the effects of cardioid cross-section on the natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes in the thermal environment as well as the sensitivity of the vibration behavior to the thermal gradient ratio and the orthotropy of the shell is also investigated for different types of vibration modes. In general, close agreement between the obtained results and those of other researchers has been found.