Free vibration analysis of functionally graded nanocomposite cylindrical panel reinforced by carbon nanotube

In this study, based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity, free vibration characteristics of nanocomposite cylindrical panels reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes are considered. The carbon nanotube reinforced (CNTRC) cylindrical panels have smooth variation of carbon nanotube (CNT) fraction in the radial direction and the material properties are estimated by the extended rule of mixture. Suitable displacement functions that identically satisfy the boundary conditions at the simply supported edges are used to reduce the equilibrium equations to a set of coupled ordinary differential equations with variable coefficients, which can be solved by a generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method. The results show that the kind of distribution and volume fraction of CNT have a significant effect on the normalized natural frequency

Influence of carbon nanotubes on thermal expansion coefficient and thermal buckling of polymer composite plates: experimental and numerical investigations

The first aim of this article is to experimentally explore the effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of epoxy-based composites. Focusing on the obtained experimental data, two important conclusions can be drawn. (1) Though the CTE of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is lower than that of neat epoxy, using more CNT does not necessarily decrease the CTE of epoxy polymer. (2) The optimum weight percentage of CNT is 0.3 which can reduce the CTE of epoxy up to 33%. As the second goal of the present research work, thermal buckling analysis of rectangular carbon-fiber-reinforced CNT/epoxy polymer (CFRCNTEP)-laminated composite plates is performed numerically. To this purpose, first, using the obtained experimental data and micro-mechanical models, the thermo-elastic properties of structure are calculated. Then, based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and by means of generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method, the influence of CNTs on the critical buckling temperature of CFRCNTEP composite plates is investigated. The numerical results reveal that MWCNTs can strongly affect thermal buckling behavior of composite plates. It is observed that by adding 0.3 wt. % CNTs into the matrix phase, the critical buckling temperature increases between 35 and 42%

Free vibration analysis and design optimization of SMA/Graphite/Epoxy composite shells in thermal environments

Composite shells, which are being widely used in engineering applications, are often under thermal loads. Thermal loads usually bring thermal stresses in the structure which can significantly affect its static and dynamic behaviors. One of the possible solutions for this matter is embedding Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires into the structure. In the present study, thermal buckling and free vibration of laminated composite cylindrical shells reinforced by SMA wires are analyzed. Brinson model is implemented to predict the thermo-mechanical behavior of SMA wires. The natural frequencies and buckling temperatures of the structure are obtained by employing Generalized Differential Quadrature (GDQ) method. GDQ is a powerful numerical approach which can solve partial differential equations. A comparative study is carried out to show the accuracy and efficiency of the applied numerical method for both free vibration and buckling analysis of composite shells in thermal environment. A parametric study is also provided to indicate the effects of like SMA volume fraction, dependency of material properties on temperature, lay-up orientation, and pre-strain of SMA wires on the natural frequency and buckling of Shape Memory Alloy Hybrid Composite (SMAHC) cylindrical shells. Results represent the fact that SMAs can play a significant role in thermal vibration of composite shells. The second goal of present work is optimization of SMAHC cylindrical shells in order to maximize the fundamental frequency parameter at a certain temperature. To this end, an eight-layer composite shell with four SMA-reinforced layers is considered for optimization. The primary optimization variables are the values of SMA angles in the four layers. Since the optimization process is complicated and time consuming, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is performed to obtain the orientations of SMA layers to maximize the first natural frequency of structure. The optimization results show that using an optimum stacking sequence for SMAHC shells can increase the fundamental frequency of the structure by a considerable amount

Free vibrations of non-uniform CNT/fiber/polymer nanocomposite beams

In this paper, free vibrations of non-uniform multi-scale nanocomposite beams reinforced by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are studied. Mori-Tanaka (MT) technique is employed to estimate the effective mechanical properties of three-phase CNT/fiber/polymer composite (CNTFPC) beam. In order to obtain the natural frequencies of structure, the governing equation is solved by means of Generalized Differential Quadrature (GDQ) approach. The accuracy and efficiency of the applied methods are studied and compared with some experimental data reported in previous published works. The influences of volume fraction and agglomeration of nanotubes, volume fraction of long fibers, and different laminate lay-ups on the natural frequency response of structure are examined

Hygrothermal effects on the buckling of soft-core sandwich plates with composite layered face sheets

The present work attempts to investigate the influence of hygrothermal environments on the buckling of soft-core sandwich plates with laminated composite face sheets. The stability equations are derived based on piecewise low-order shear deformation theory (PLSDT) and then solved using different methods, depending on the boundary conditions. For fully simply supported sandwich plates, an analytical method is developed which results in some closed-form solutions. For sandwich plates with two parallel simply supported edges and two clamped edges, a semi-analytical solution is established using one-dimensional generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) technique. Finally, for fully clamped sandwich plates, two-dimensional GDQ approach is applied to the governing equations. To validate the results of proposed methods, a comparative study with various examples is carried out verifying that the methods in the present work can accurately predict the buckling load of sandwich plates in hot and wet environments. Then, a comprehensive parametric study is performed to show the effects of temperature and moisture content on the buckling of sandwich plates for different parameters such as length to thickness ratio, core thickness and boundary conditions. It is concluded that both temperature and moisture content have significant influences on the buckling behavior of sandwich plates

A comparison between the effects of shape memory alloys and carbon nanotubes on the thermal buckling of laminated composite beams

One of the essentials for designing composite structures exposed to heat is the correct choice of reinforcing materials. In the present research work, a comparison is made between the performances of two well-known advanced materials, Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) and Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs), in thermal bucking behavior of thin composite beams with simply supported boundary conditions. First, the effect of embedding SMA wires on the thermal buckling of laminated composite beams are examined. The stability equations are derived based on Timoshenko Beam Theory (TBT), and the critical buckling temperatures are obtained analytically. The advantages and disadvantages of using SMA wires as well as their proper functional range are studied. Then, in the next step, the influence of CNTs on the thermal buckling response of composite beams is presented. To this end, the results of some experiments such as Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis (DMTA) and Thermo-Mechanical Analysis (TMA) tests are used to obtain thermal properties of CNT-reinforced composite materials. The performance of CNTs is also evaluated in comparison with SMA wires. It is found from the analysis that, depending on the structural conditions, one reinforcing material can outperform the other. Finally, the idea of simultaneous use of both reinforcing materials comes up. The results show that, in some circumstances, the use of only one of the SMAs or CNTs does not have significant effect on the thermal buckling of composite beams, but applying both of these advanced reinforcing materials in the composite medium can extraordinarily enhance the critical buckling temperatures

Situation Awareness and Environmental Factors: The EVO Oil Production

The paper considers simulation results for a supply network, that deals with Extra Virgin Olive (EVO) oil production, an activity that is typical of Southern Italy. The phenomenon is studied by differential equations, that focus on goods on arcs and queues for the exceeding goods. Different numerical schemes are used for simulations. A strategy of Situation Awareness allows defining a possible choice of the input flow to the supply network. The achieved results indicate that Situa- tion Awareness permits to find good compromises for the modulation of production queues and the optimization of the overall system features