The elastic response of functionally graded cylindrical shells to low-velocity impact

Abstract This paper deals with the problem of functionally graded (FG) cylindrical shells subjected to low-velocity impact by a solid striker. An analytic solution to predict the impact response of the FG cylindrical shells with one layer or multi-layers is presented. The solution includes both contact deformation and transverse shear deformation. The effective material properties of functionally graded materials (FGMs) for the cylindrical shells are assumed to vary continuously through the shell thickness and are graded in the shell thickness direction according to a volume fraction power law distribution. This is implemented in the governing equation of motion and thus included in the present solution. Four types of FG cylindrical shells composed of stainless steel and silicon nitride are configured and their transient responses to impact are computed using the present solution. The effects of the constituent volume fraction and the FGM configuration on the transient response of the laminated cylindrical shell induced by impact are examined.