Thermo Elastic Analysis of Carbon Nanotube-Reinforced Composite Cylinder Utilizing Finite Element Method with the Theory of Elasticity

Abstract

In this paper, the axisymmetric bending behavior of FG_CNTRC moderately thick cylinder under the effect of internal pressure and thermal load is investigated. Three kinds of distributions of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) are utilized, that is uniform and two types of functionally graded distributions of CNTs through the radial direction of cylinder. The governing equations are derived based on the elasticity theory. The steady state heat conduction with convection heat transfer on the inner surface of cylinder and the thermo elastic equations are solved numerically by the finite element method. A computer program by Fortran95 (FTN95) has been built to obtain the temperature distribution and displacement field through the radial and longitudinal direction of the cylinder. In details, parametric studies have been achieved to show the effect of convection heat transfer coefficient and the kind of CNTs distributions on the bending response of the cylinder. It’s found that the percentage increasing in the radial displacement (Ur) is about (34%), when the value of conduction heat transfer coefficient increases from (hc=5 W/m2 K) to (hc=5 W/m2 K). Also, it’s found that, the value of (Ur = 0.15) for FG_V as compared with the value (Ur = 0.1) for the FG_X distribution. Moreover, the influence of various boundary conditions is also investigated. The accuracy of the current study is validated by comparative study with that available in the literature and found that the percentage error between two studies in the range of (0.022%, 0.042%, and 0.047%) for UD, FG_V and FG_X distribution respectively. So, there is a good agreement for the results.