• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.821-832
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• 2019

An analysis on thermal buckling and postbuckling of composite laminated plates reinforced with a low amount of graphene platelets is performed in the current investigation. It is assumed that graphaene platelets are randomly oriented and uniformly dispersed in each layer of the composite media. Elastic properties of the nanocomposite media are obtained by means of the modified Halpin-Tsai approach which takes into account the size effects of the graphene reinforcements. By means of the von $K{\acute{a}}rm{\acute{a}}n$ type of geometrical nonlinearity, third order shear deformation theory and nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) based isogeometric finite element method, the governing equations for the thermal postbuckling of nanocomposite plates in rectangular shape are established. These equations are solved by means of a direct displacement control strategy. Numerical examples are given to study the effects of boundary conditions, weight fraction of graphene platelets and distribution pattern of graphene platelets. It is shown that, with introduction of a small amount of graphene platelets into the matrix of the composite media, the critical buckling temperature of the plate may be enhanced and thermal postbuckling deflection may be alleviated.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.141-153
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• 2023

The main objective of this paper is to develop the finite element study on the nonlinear free vibration of functionally graded nanocomposite spherical shells reinforced with graphene platelets under the first-order shear deformation shell theory and von Kármán nonlinear kinematic relations. The governing equations are presented by introducing the full asymmetric nonlinear strain-displacement relations followed by the constitutive relations and energy functional. The extended Halpin-Tsai model is utilized to specify the overall Young's modulus of the nanocomposite. Then, the finite element formulation is derived and the quadrilateral 8-node shell element is implemented for finite element discretization. The nonlinear sets of dynamic equations are solved by the use of the harmonic balance technique and iterative method to find the nonlinear frequency response. Several numerical examples are represented to highlight the impact of involved factors on the large-amplitude vibration responses of nanocomposite spherical shells. One of the main findings is that for some geometrical and material parameters, the fundamental vibrational mode shape is asymmetric and the axisymmetric formulation cannot be appropriately employed to model the nonlinear dynamic behavior of nanocomposite spherical shells.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.195-208
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• 2019

Based on a four-variable shear deformation shell theory, the free vibration analysis of functionally graded graphene platelet-reinforced composite (FGGPRC) doubly-curved shallow shells with different boundary conditions is investigated in this work. The doubly-curved shells are composed of multi nanocomposite layers that are reinforced with graphene platelets. The graphene platelets are uniformly distributed in each individual layer. While, the volume faction of the graphene is graded from layer to other in accordance with a novel distribution law. Based on the suggested distribution law, four types of FGGPRC doubly-curved shells are studied. The present shells are assumed to be rested on elastic foundations. The material properties of each layer are calculated using a micromechanical model. Four equations of motion are deduced utilizing Hamilton's principle and then converted to an eigenvalue problem employing an analytical method. The obtained results are checked by introducing some comparison examples. A detailed parametric investigation is performed to illustrate the influences of the distribution type of volume fraction, shell curvatures, elastic foundation stiffness and boundary conditions on the vibration of FGGPRC doubly-curved shells.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.711-727
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• 2020

In the present research, the free vibration analysis of functionally graded (FG) nanocomposite deep spherical shells reinforced by graphene platelets (GPLs) on elastic foundation is performed. The elastic foundation is assumed to be Winkler-Past ernak-type. It is also assumed that graphaene platelets are randomly oriented and uniformly dispersed in each layer of the nanocomposite shell. Volume fraction of the graphene platelets as nanofillers may be different in the layers. The modified HalpinTsai model is used to approximate the effective mechanical properties of the multilayer nanocomposite. With the aid of the first order shear deformation shell theory and implementing Hamilton's principle, motion equations are derived. Afterwards, the generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM) is utilized to study the free vibration characteristics of FG-GPLRC spherical shell. To assess the validity and accuracy of the presented method, the results are compared with the available researches. Finally, the natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes are provided for different boundary conditions, GPLs volume fraction, types of functionally graded, elastic foundation coefficients, opening angles of shell, and thickness-to-radius ratio.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.255-271
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• 2018

This paper deals with the transient dynamic analysis and elastic wave propagation in a functionally graded graphene platelets (FGGPLs)-reinforced composite thick hollow cylinder, which is subjected to shock loading. A micromechanical model based on the Halpin-Tsai model and rule of mixture is modified for nonlinear functionally graded distributions of graphene platelets (GPLs) in polymer matrix of composites. The governing equations are derived for an axisymmetric FGGPLs-reinforced composite cylinder with a finite length and then solved using a hybrid meshless method based on the generalized finite difference (GFD) and Newmark finite difference methods. A numerical time discretization is performed for the dynamic problem using the Newmark method. The dynamic behaviors of the displacements and stresses are obtained and discussed in detail using the modified micromechanical model and meshless GFD method. The effects of the reinforcement of the composite cylinder by GPLs on the elastic wave propagations in both displacement and stress fields are obtained for various parameters. It is concluded that the proposed micromechanical model and also the meshless GFD method have a high capability to simulate the composite structures under shock loadings, which are reinforced by FGGPLs. It is shown that the modified micromechanical model and solution technique based on the meshless GFD method are accurate. Also, the time histories of the field variables are shown for various parameters.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.77-92
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• 2020

The present paper outlined a procedure for geometrically nonlinear dynamic analysis of functionally graded graphene platelets-reinforced (GPLR-FG) nanocomposite cylinder subjected to mechanical shock loading. The governing equation of motion for large deformation problems is derived using meshless local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) method based on total lagrangian approach. In the MLPG method, the radial point interpolation technique is employed to construct the shape functions. A micromechanical model based on the Halpin-Tsai model and rule of mixture is used for formulation the nonlinear functionally graded distribution of GPLs in polymer matrix of composites. Energy dissipation in analyses of the structure responding to dynamic loads is considered using the Rayleigh damping. The Newmark-Newton/Raphson method which is an incremental-iterative approach is implemented to solve the nonlinear dynamic equations. The results of the proposed method for homogenous material are compared with the finite element ones. A very good agreement is achieved between the MLPG and FEM with very fine meshing. In addition, the results have demonstrated that the MLPG method is more effective method compared with the FEM for very large deformation problems due to avoiding mesh distortion issues. Finally, the effect of GPLs distribution on strength, stiffness and dynamic characteristics of the cylinder are discussed in details. The obtained results show that the distribution of GPLs changed the mechanical properties, so a classification of different types and volume fraction exponent is established. Indeed by comparing the obtained results, the best compromise of nanocomposite cylinder is determined in terms of mechanical and dynamic properties for different load patterns. All these applications have shown that the present MLPG method is very effective for geometrically nonlinear analyses of GPLR-FG nanocomposite cylinder because of vanishing mesh distortion issue in large deformation problems. In addition, since in proposed method the distributed nodes are used for discretization the problem domain (rather than the meshing), modeling the functionally graded media yields to more accurate results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.215-226
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• 2020

The aim of this study is to investigate free vibration of functionally graded porous nanocomposite rectangular plates where the internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) are distributed in the matrix either uniformly or non-uniformly according to three different patterns. The elastic properties of the nanocomposite are obtained by employing Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model. The GPL-reinforced plate is modeled using a semi-analytic approach composed of generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM) and series solution adopted to solve the equations of motion. The proposed rectangular plates have two opposite edges simply supported, while all possible combinations of free, simply supported and clamped boundary conditions are applied to the other two edges. The 2-D differential quadrature method as an efficient and accurate numerical tool is used to discretize the governing equations and to implement the boundary conditions. The convergence of the method is demonstrated and to validate the results, comparisons are made between the present results and those reported by well-known references for special cases treated before, have confirmed accuracy and efficiency of the present approach. New results reveal the importance of porosity coefficient, porosity distribution, graphene platelets (GPLs) distribution, geometrical and boundary conditions on vibration behavior of porous nanocomposite plates. It is observed that the maximum vibration frequency obtained in the case of symmetric porosity and GPL distribution, while the minimum vibration frequency is obtained using uniform porosity distribution.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.275-290
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• 2021

The main purpose of this research work is to investigate the critical buckling load of functionally graded (FG) porous plates with graphene platelets (GPLs) reinforcement using generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method at thermal condition. It is supposed that the GPL nanofillers and the porosity coefficient vary continuously along the plate thickness direction. Generally, the thermal distribution is considered to be nonlinear and the temperature changing continuously through the thickness of the nanocomposite plates according to the power-law distribution. To model closed cell FG porous material reinforced with GPLs, Halpin-Tsai micromechanical modeling in conjunction with Gaussian-Random field scheme are used, through which mechanical properties of the structures can be extracted. Based on the third order shear deformation theory (TSDT) and the Hamilton's principle, the equations of motion are established and solved for various boundary conditions (B.Cs). The fast rate of convergence and accuracy of the method are investigated through the different solved examples and validity of the present study is evaluated by comparing its numerical results with those available in the literature. A special attention is drawn to the role of GPLs weight fraction, GPLs patterns through the thickness, porosity coefficient and distribution of porosity on critical buckling load. Results reveal that the importance of thermal condition on of the critical load of FGP-GPL reinforced nanocomposite plates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.47-62
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• 2020

In this study, free vibration behavior of trapezoidal sandwich plates with porous core and two graphene platelets (GPLs) reinforced nanocomposite outer layers are presented. The distribution of pores and GPLs are supposed to be functionally graded (FG) along the thickness of core and nanocomposite layers, respectively. The effective Young's modulus of the GPL-reinforced (GPLR) nanocomposite layers is determined using the modified Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model, while the Poisson's ratio and density are computed by the rule of mixtures. The FSDT plate theory is utilized to establish governing partial differential equations and boundary conditions (B.C.s) for trapezoidal plate. The governing equations together with related B.C.s are discretized using a mapping- generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method in the spatial domain. Then natural frequencies of the trapezoidal sandwich plates are obtained by GDQ method. Validity of current study is evaluated by comparing its numerical results with those available in the literature. A special attention is drawn to the role of GPLs weight fraction, GPLs patterns of two faces through the thickness, porosity coefficient and distribution of porosity on natural frequencies characteristics. New results show the importance of this permeates on vibrational characteristics of porous/GPLR nanocomposite plates. Finally, the influences of B.C.s and dimension as well as the plate geometry such as face to core thickness ratio on the vibration behaviors of the trapezoidal plates are discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.249-260
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• 2020

The main purpose of this research work is to investigate the free vibration of conical shell structures reinforced by graphene platelets (GPLs) and the elastic properties of the nanocomposite are obtained by employing Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model. To this end, a shell model is developed based on Donnell's theory. To solve the problem, the analytical Galerkin method is employed together with beam mode shapes as weighting functions. Due to importance of boundary conditions upon mechanical behavior of nanostructures, the analysis is carried out for different boundary conditions. The effects of boundary conditions, semi vertex angle, porosity distribution and graphene platelets on the response of conical shell structures are explored. The correctness of the obtained results is checked via comparing with existing data in the literature and good agreement is eventuated. The effectiveness and the accuracy of the present approach have been demonstrated and it is shown that the Donnell's shell theory is efficient, robust and accurate in terms of nanocomposite problems.