Free Vibration of FG-CNTRCs Nano-Plates/Shells with Temperature-Dependent Properties

Abstract

This article presents a mathematical continuum model to analyze the free vibration response of cross-ply carbon-nanotube-reinforced composite laminated nanoplates and nanoshells, including microstructure and length scale effects. Different shell geometries, such as plate (infinite radii), spherical, cylindrical, hyperbolic-paraboloid and elliptical-paraboloid are considered in the analysis. By employing Hamilton’s variational principle, the equations of motion are derived based on hyperbolic sine function shear deformation theory. Then, the derived equations are solved analytically using the Galerkin approach. Two types of material distribution are proposed. Higher-order nonlocal strain gradient theory is employed to capture influences of shear deformation, length scale parameter (nonlocal) and material/microstructurescale parameter (gradient). Temperature-dependent material properties are considered. The validation of the proposed mathematical model is presented. Detailed parametric analyses are carried out to highlight the effects of the carbon nanotubes (CNT) distribution pattern, the thickness stretching, the geometry of the plate/shell, the boundary conditions, the total number of layers, the length scale and the material scale parameters, on the vibrational frequencies of CNTRC laminated nanoplates and nanoshells.

Keywords

• free vibration
• nanoplates and nanoshells
• CNTs
• higher-order shear deformation theory
• Galerkin method