Structural Behaviour and Failure Analysis of CNT Reinforced Composite Plates in Hygro Thermal Environment

Abstract

The present work deals with the formulation of inverse hyperbolic shear deformation theory (IHSDT) for modeling and analysis of carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced plates. The theory is developed in the framework of non-polynomial shear strain function in term of shear deformation theory. The displacement field is chosen in such a way that it satisfies the zero transverse shear stress conditions at the top and bottom of the plate in thickness direction and does not require a shear correction factor. The effect of in-plane shear deformation in the displacements is defined using the shear strain shape function in terms of inverse hyperbolic function. The structural response of CNT reinforced plates is examined under the action of mechanical, thermal and moisture conditions. Firstly, the effective material properties are assumed to be temperature dependent and estimated according to the extended rule of mixture. Four types of distributions such as uniformly distributed (UD) and functionally graded (FG-V, FG-O and FG-X) are considered to reinforce the CNT in the matrix material (PmPV and PMMA). The structural responses are computed in analytical form as well as in the numerical so as to enhance the generality of the developed methodology. The closed form solutions are computed for structural response (bending, buckling and free vibration) of simply supported CNT reinforced plates using Navier approach. The validation of obtained results are demonstrated successfully by comparing with the other existing methodologies available in the literature. Further, to enhance the applicability, a C0 continuous eight noded isoparametric serendipity finite element methodology is developed using IHSDT. The developed finite element methodology is implemented to examine the static, buckling and free vibration behavior of temperature dependent CNT reinforced plates. The influence of the various parameters (volume fraction, span to thickness ratio, aspect ratio, distribution of CNT and boundary conditions) on non-dimensional central