• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.31-46
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• 2019

In the present study, the various dynamic properties of MWCNT embedded fiber reinforced polymer uniform and tapered composite (MWCNT-FRP) plates are investigated. Various configurations of a tapered composite plate with ply-drop off and uniform composite plate have been considered for the development of the finite element formulation and experimental investigations. First order shear deformation theory (FSDT) has been used to derive the kinetic and potential energy equations of the hybrid composite plates by including the effect of rotary inertia, shear deformation and non-uniformity in thickness of the plate. The governing equations of motion of FRP composite plates without and with MWCNT reinforcement are derived by considering a nine- node rectangular element with five degrees of freedom (DOF) at each node. The effectiveness of the developed finite element formulation has been demonstrated by comparing the natural frequencies and damping ratio of FRP composite plates without and with MWCNT reinforcement obtained experimentally. Various parametric studies are also performed to study the effect of CNT volume fraction and CNT aspect ratio of the composite plate on the natural frequencies of different configurations of CNT reinforced hybrid composite plates. Further the forced vibration analysis is performed to compare the dynamic response of the various configurations of MWCNT-GFRP composite plate with GFRP composite plate under harmonic excitations. It was observed that the fundamental natural frequency and damping ratio of the GFRP composite plate increase approximately 8% and 37% respectively with 0.5wt% reinforcement of MWCNT under CFCF boundary condition. The natural frequencies of MWCNT-GFRP hybrid composite plates tend to decrease with the increase of MWCNT volume fraction beyond 2% due to agglomeration of CNT's. It is also observed that the aspect ratio of the CNT has negligible effect on the improvement of dynamics properties due to randomly orientation of CNT's.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.765-777
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• 2020

In the context of classic conical shell formulation, nonlinear forced vibration analysis of truncated conical shells and annular plates made of multi-scale epoxy/CNT/fiberglass composites has been presented. The composite material is reinforced by carbon nanotube (CNT) and also fiberglass for which the material properties are defined according to a 3D Mori-Tanaka micromechanical scheme. By utilizing the Jacobi elliptic functions, the frequency-deflection curves of truncated conical shells and annular plates related to their forced vibrations have been derived. The main focus is to study the influences of CNT amount, fiberglass volume, open angle, fiber angle, truncated distance and force magnitude on forced vibrational behaviors of multi-scale truncated conical shells and annular plates.

• 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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2022

In this paper, a nonlinear numerical method to solve the large deflection problem is introduced. And the non-dimensional load-deflection behavior of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) plates is parametrically investigated. The large deflection problem is formulated according to the von Kármán nonlinear theory and the (1,1,0)^* hierarchical model, and it is approximated by 2-D natural element method (NEM). The shear locking phenomenon is suppressed by the selectively reduced integration method. The nonlinear matrix equations are solved by combining the incremental loading scheme and the Newton-Raphson iteration method. The proposed method is validated from the benchmark experiments, where the propose method shows an excellent agreement with the reference methods. The nonlinear behavior of FG-CNTRC plates is evaluated in terms of the non-dimensional load-deflection curve, and it is parametrically investigated with respect to the existence/non-existence and gradient pattern of CNTs, the width-to-thickness and aspect ratios of plates and the type of boundary conditions. The non-dimensional central deflection is significantly reduced when CNTs and added, and it decreases with the volume fraction of CNTs. But, it shows a uniform increase in proportion to the width-to-thickness and aspect ratios. Both the gradient pattern of CNTs and the type of boundary conditions do also show the remarkable effects.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.595-610
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• 2019

This paper deals with the static and dynamic behavior of Functionally Graded Carbon Nanotubes (FG-CNT)-reinforced porous sandwich (PMPV) polymer plate. The model of nanocomposite plate is investigated within the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). Two types of porous sandwich plates are supposed (sandwich with face sheets reinforced / homogeneous core and sandwich with homogeneous face sheets / reinforced core). Functionally graded Carbon Nanotubes (FG-CNT) and uniformly Carbon Nanotubes (UD-CNT) distributions of face sheets or core porous plates with uniaxially aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes are considered. The governing equations are derived by using Hamilton's principle. The solution for bending and vibration of such type's porous plates are obtained. The detailed mathematical derivations are provided and the solutions are compared to some cases in the literature. The effect of the several parameters of reinforced sandwich porous plates such as aspect ratios, volume fraction, types of reinforcement, number of modes and thickness of plate on the bending and vibration analyses are studied and discussed. On the question of porosity, this study found that there is a great influence of their variation on the static and vibration of porous sandwich plate.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.541-557
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• 2018

This paper presents the influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) waviness and aspect ratio on the vibrational behavior of functionally graded nanocomposite sandwich annular sector plates resting on two-parameter elastic foundations. The carbon nanotube-reinforced (CNTR) sandwich plate has smooth variation of CNT fraction along the thickness direction. 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 this study, the classical theory concerning the mechanical efficiency of a matrix embedding finite length fibers has been modified by introducing the tube-to-tube random contact, which explicitly accounts for the progressive reduction of the tubes' effective aspect ratio as the filler content increases. Effects of CNT distribution, volume fraction, aspect ratio and waviness, and also effects of Pasternak's elastic foundation coefficients, sandwich plate thickness, face sheets thickness and plate aspect ratio are investigated on the free vibration of the sandwich plates with wavy CNT-reinforced face sheets. The study is carried out based on three-dimensional theory of elasticity and in contrary to two-dimensional theories, such as classical, the first- and the higher-order shear deformation plate theories, this approach does not neglect transverse normal deformations. The sandwich annular sector plate is assumed to be simply supported in the radial edges while any arbitrary boundary conditions are applied to the other two circular edges including simply supported, clamped and free.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.623-631
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• 2017

Present paper deals with the temperature-dependent buckling analysis of sandwich nanocomposite plates resting on elastic medium subjected to magnetic field. The lamina layers are reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as uniform and functionally graded (FG). The elastic medium is considered as orthotropic Pasternak foundation with considering the effects of thermal loading on the spring and shear constants of medium. Mixture rule is utilized for obtaining the effective material properties of each layer. Adopting the Reddy shear deformation plate theory, the governing equations are derived based on energy method and Hamilton's principle. The buckling load of the structure is calculated with the Navier's method for the simply supported sandwich nanocomposite plates. Parametric study is conducted on the combined effects of the volume percent and distribution types of the CNTs, temperature change, elastic medium, magnetic field and geometrical parameters of the plates on the buckling load of the sandwich structure. The results show that FGX distribution of the CNTs leads to higher stiffness and consequently higher buckling load. In addition, considering the magnetic field increases the buckling load of the sandwich nanocomposite plate.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.443-450
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• 2023

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have received increased interest in reinforcing research for polymer matrix composites due to their exceptional mechanical characteristics. Its high surface area/volume ratio and aspect ratio enable polymer-based composites to make the most of its features. This study focuses on the experimental tensile testing and fabrication of carbon nanotube reinforced composite (CNTRC) beams, exploring various micromechanical models. By examining the performance of these models alongside experimental results, the research aims to better understand and optimize the mechanical properties of CNTRC materials. Tensile properties of neat epoxy and 0.3%; 0.4% and 0.5% by CNT reinforced laminated single layer (0°/90°) carbon fiber composite beams were investigated. The composite plates were produced in accordance with ASTM D7264 standard. The tensile test was performed in order to see the mechanical properties of the composite beams. The results showed that the optimum amount of CNT was 0.3% based on the tensile capacity. The capacity was significantly reduced when 0.4% CNT was utilized. Moreover, the experimental results are compared with Finite Element Models using ABAQUS. Hashin Failure Criteria was utilized to predict the tensile capacity. Good conformance was observed between experimental and numerical models. More importantly is that Young' Moduli of the specimens is compared with the prediction Halpin-Tsai and Mixture-Rule. Although Halpin-Tsai can accurately predict the Young's Moduli of the specimens, the accuracy of Mixture-Rule was significantly low.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.275-291
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• 2023

This paper has focused on presenting vibration analysis of trapezoidal sandwich plates with 3D-graphene foam reinforced polymer matrix composites (GrF-PMC) core and FG wavy CNT-reinforced face sheets. The porous graphene foam possessing 3D scaffold structures has been introduced into polymers for enhancing the overall stiffness of the composite structure. Also, 3D graphene foams can distribute uniformly or non-uniformly in the plate thickness direction. The effective Young's modulus, mass density and Poisson's ratio are predicted by the rule of mixture. In this study, the classical theory concerning the mechanical efficiency of a matrix embedding finite length fibers has been modified by introducing the tube-to-tube random contact, which explicitly accounts for the progressive reduction of the tubes' effective aspect ratio as the filler content increases. The First-order shear deformation theory of plate is utilized to establish governing partial differential equations and boundary conditions for trapezoidal plate. The governing equations together with related boundary conditions are discretized using a mapping-generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method in spatial domain. Then natural frequencies of the trapezoidal sandwich plates are obtained using GDQ method. Validity of the current study is evaluated by comparing its numerical results with those available in the literature. It is explicated that 3D-GrF skeleton type and weight fraction, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) waviness and CNT aspect ratio can significantly affect the vibrational behavior of the sandwich structure. The plate's normalized natural frequency decreased and the straight carbon nanotube (w=0) reached the highest frequency by increasing the values of the waviness index (w).

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.115-123
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• 2018

By using the first order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) in the present paper, the effect of porosity on the buckling behavior of carbon nanotube-reinforced composite porous plates has been investigated analytically. Two types of distributions of uniaxially aligned reinforcement material are utilized which uniformly (UD-CNT) and functionally graded (FG-CNT) of plates. The analytical equations of the model are derived and the exact solutions for critical buckling load of such type's plates are obtained. The convergence of the method is demonstrated and the present solutions are numerically validated by comparison with some available solutions in the literature. The central thesis studied and discussed in this paper is the Influence of Various parameters on the buckling of carbon nanotube-reinforced porous plate such as aspect ratios, volume fraction, types of reinforcement, the degree of porosity and plate thickness. On the question of porosity, this study found that there is a great influence of their variation on the critical buckling load. It is revealed that the critical buckling load decreases as increasing coefficients of porosity.