• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.441-456
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• 2016

This work reports wave propagation in the nanocomposite cylinders that reinforced by straight single-walled carbon nanotubes based on a mesh-free method. Moving least square shape functions have been used for approximation of displacement field in weak form of motion equation. The straight carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are assumed to be oriented in specific or random directions or locally aggregated into some clusters. In this simulation, an axisymmetric model is used and also the volume fractions of the CNTs and clusters are assumed to be functionally graded along the thickness. So, material properties of the carbon nanotube reinforced composite cylinders are variable and estimated based on the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka approach. The effects of orientation, aggregation and volume fractions of the functionally graded clusters and CNTs on dynamic behavior of nanocomposite cylinders are studied. This study results show that orientation and aggregation of CNTs have significant effects on the effective stiffness and dynamic behaviors.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.107-128
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• 2018

Thermo-mechanical vibration of sandwich beams with a stiff core and face sheets made of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) is investigated within the framework of Timoshenko beam theory. The material properties of FG-CNTRC are supposed to vary continuously in the thickness direction and are estimated through the rule of mixture and are considered to be temperature dependent. The governing equations and boundary conditions are derived by using Hamilton's principle and are solved using an efficient semi-analytical technique of the differential transform method (DTM). Comparison between the results of the present work and those available in literature shows the accuracy of this method. A parametric study is conducted to study the effects of carbon nanotube volume fraction, slenderness ratio, core-to-face sheet thickness ratio, and various boundary conditions on free vibration behavior of sandwich beams with FG-CNTRC face sheets. It is explicitly shown that the vibration characteristics of the curved nanosize beams are significantly influenced by the surface density effects.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.405-422
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• 2018

In this research, experimental tensile test and manufacturing of carbon nanotube reinforced composite beam (CNTRC) is presented. Also, bending, buckling, and vibration analysis of CNTRC based on various beam theories such as Euler-Bernoulli, Timoshenko and Reddy beams are considered. At first, the experimental tensile tests are carried out for CNTRC and composite beams in order to obtain mechanical properties and then using Hamilton's principle the governing equations of motion are derived for Euler Bernoulli, Timoshenko and Reddy theories. The results have a good agreement with the obtained results by similar researches and it is shown that adding just two percent of carbon nanotubes increases dimensionless fundamental frequency and critical buckling load as well as decreases transverse deflection of composite beams. Also, the influences of different manufacturing processes such as hand layup and industrial methods using vacuum pump on composite properties are investigated. In these composite beams, glass fibers used in an epoxy matrix and for producing CNTRC, CNTs are applied as reinforcement particles. Applying two percent of CNTs leads to increase the mechanical properties and increases natural frequencies and critical buckling load and decreases deflection. The obtained natural frequencies and critical buckling load by theoretical method are higher than other methods, because there are some inevitable errors in industrial and hand layup method. Also, the minimum deflection occurs for theoretical methods, in bending analysis. In this study, Young's and shear modulli as well as density are obtained by experimental test and have not been used from the results of other researches. Then the theoretical analysis such as bending, buckling and vibration are considered by using the obtained mechanical properties of this research.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.495-508
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• 2018

In this paper, the effect of matrix cracks on the buckling of a hybrid laminated plate is investigated. The plate is composed of carbon nanotube reinforced functionally graded (CNTR-FG) layers and conventional fiber reinforced composite (FRC) layers. Different distributions of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) through the thickness of layers are considered. The cracks are modeled as aligned slit cracks across the ply thickness and transverse to the laminate plane, and the distribution of cracks is assumed statistically homogeneous corresponding to an average crack density. The first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is employed to incorporate the effects of rotary inertia and transverse shear deformation, and the meshless kp-Ritz method is used to obtain the buckling solutions. Detailed parametric studies are conducted to investigate the effects of matrix crack density, CNTs distributions, CNT volume fraction, plate aspect ratio and plate length-to-thickness ratio, boundary conditions and number of layers on buckling behaviors of hybrid laminated plates containing CNTR-FG layers.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.491-504
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• 2012

In this paper, the nonlinear cylindrical bending of simply supported, functionally graded nanocomposite plates reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), is studied. The plates are subjected to uniform pressure loading in thermal environments and their geometric nonlinearity is introduced in the strain-displacement equations based on Von-Karman assumptions. The material properties of SWCNTs are assumed to be temperature-dependent and are obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. The material properties of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composites (FG-CNTCRs) are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction, and are estimated through a micromechanical model. The governing equations are reduced to linear differential equation with nonlinear boundary conditions yielding a simple solution procedure. Numerical results are presented to show the effect of the material distribution on the deflections and stresses.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.1259-1277
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• 2015

In this work, a trigonometric refined beam theory for the bending, buckling and free vibration analysis of carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (CNTRC) beams resting on elastic foundation is developed. The significant feature of this model is that, in addition to including the shear deformation effect, it deals with only 3 unknowns as the Timoshenko beam (TBM) without including a shear correction factor. The single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are aligned and distributed in polymeric matrix with different patterns of reinforcement. The material properties of the CNTRC beams are assessed by employing the rule of mixture. To examine accuracy of the present theory, several comparison studies are investigated. Furthermore, the effects of different parameters of the beam on the bending, buckling and free vibration responses of CNTRC beam are discussed.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2017

Despite the exceptional mechanical properties of individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs), the effective properties of CNT-reinforced composites remain below expectations. The composite's microstructure has been identified as a key factor in explaining this discrepancy. In this contribution, a method for generating representative volume elements of aligned CNT sheets is presented. The model captures material characteristics such as random waviness and entanglement of individual nanotubes. Thus it allows studying microstructural effects on the composite's effective properties. Simulations investigating the strengthening effect of the application of a pre-stretch on the CNTs are carried out and found to be in very good agreement with experimental values. They highlight the importance of the nanotube's waviness and entanglement for the mechanical behavior of the composite. The presented representative volume elements are the first to accurately capture the waviness and entanglement of CNT sheets for realistically high volume fractions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.88 no.4
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• pp.335-354
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• 2023

In this study, analysis of wave propagation characteristics for functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) nanoplates is performed using first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and nonlocal strain gradient theory. Uniform distribution (UD) and three types of functionally graded distributions of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are assumed. The effective mechanical properties of the FG-CNTRC nanoplate are assumed to vary continuously in the thickness direction and are approximated based on the rule of mixture. Also, the governing equations of motion are derived via the extended Hamilton's principle. In numerical examples, the effects of nonlocal parameter, wavenumber, angle of wave propagation, volume fractions, and carbon nanotube distributions on the wave propagation characteristics of the FG-CNTRC nanoplate are studied. As represented in the results, it is clear that the internal length-scale parameter has a remarkable effect on the wave propagation characteristics resulting in significant changes in phase velocity and natural frequency. Furthermore, it is observed that the strain gradient theory yields a higher phase velocity and frequency compared to those obtained by the nonlocal strain gradient theory and classic theory.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.277-299
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• 2016

In this paper, free vibration, forced vibration, resonance and stress wave propagation behavior in nanocomposite plates reinforced by wavy carbon nanotube (CNT) are studied by a mesh-free method based on first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The plates are resting on Winkler-Pasternak elastic foundation and subjected to periodic or impact loading. The distributions of CNTs are considered functionally graded (FG) or uniform along the thickness and their mechanical properties are estimated by an extended rule of mixture. In the mesh-free analysis, moving least squares (MLS) shape functions are used for approximation of displacement field in the weak form of motion equation and the transformation method is used for imposition of essential boundary conditions. Effects of CNT distribution, volume fraction, aspect ratio and waviness, and also effects of elastic foundation coefficients, plate thickness and time depended loading are examined on the vibrational and stresses wave propagation responses of the nanocomposite plates reinforced by wavy CNT.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.67 no.6
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• pp.565-578
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• 2018

This research article reported the nonlinear finite solutions of the nonlinear flexural strength and stress behaviour of nano sandwich graded structural shell panel under the combined thermomechanical loading. The nanotube sandwich structural model is derived mathematically using the higher-order displacement polynomial including the full geometrical nonlinear strain-displacement equations via Green-Lagrange relations. The face sheets of the sandwich panel are assumed to be carbon nanotube-reinforced polymer composite with temperature dependent material properties. Additionally, the numerical model included different types of nanotube distribution patterns for the sandwich face sheets for the sake of variable strength. The required equilibrium equation of the graded carbon nanotube sandwich structural panel is derived by minimizing the total potential energy expression. The energy expression is further solved to obtain the deflection values (linear and nonlinear) via the direct iterative method in conjunction with finite element steps. A computer code is prepared (MATLAB environment) based on the current higher-order nonlinear model for the numerical analysis purpose. The stability of the numerical solution and the validity are verified by comparing the published deflection and stress values. Finally, the nonlinear model is utilized to explore the deflection and the stresses of the nanotube-reinforced (volume fraction and distribution patterns of carbon nanotube) sandwich structure (different core to face thickness ratios) for the variable type of structural parameter (thickness ratio, aspect ratio, geometrical configurations, constraints at the edges and curvature ratio) and unlike temperature loading.