Bimetallic Thin-Walled Box Beam Thermal Buckling Response.

Area of Science:

• Structural Mechanics
• Thermal Analysis
• Materials Science

Background:

• Bimetallic box beams are susceptible to thermal buckling under temperature variations.
• Accurate modeling is essential for predicting structural integrity under thermal loads.
• Existing models may not fully capture the nuances of temperature-dependent material behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and present a comprehensive beam model for the thermal buckling analysis of bimetallic box beams.
• To investigate the influence of temperature-dependent (TD) and temperature-independent (TID) material properties on buckling behavior.
• To analyze the effects of boundary conditions, beam length, and material thickness ratios on critical buckling temperature and post-buckling responses.

Main Methods:

• Employed Euler-Bernoulli-Vlasov beam theory, incorporating large rotations and small strains.
• Utilized an updated Lagrangian formulation for nonlinear stability analysis.
• Considered uniform temperature rise through beam wall thickness for thermal effects.

Main Results:

• Numerical results demonstrate the significant impact of boundary conditions, beam length, and material thickness ratios on buckling.
• The proposed beam model's accuracy is validated against a shell model.
• Temperature-dependent material solutions yield lower critical buckling temperatures compared to temperature-independent ones.

Conclusions:

• The developed beam model effectively predicts thermal buckling behavior in bimetallic box beams.
• Temperature-dependent material properties are crucial for accurate thermal buckling analysis, leading to more conservative designs.
• The study highlights the importance of considering all analyzed factors for reliable structural performance under thermal loads.