Thermal Stress Analysis of a Composite Cylinder Reinforced with FG SWCNTs

Abstract

Thermal stress analysis of a thick-walled cylinder reinforced with functionally graded (FG) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is considered in radial direction. Thick-walled cylinder is subjected to a thermal field. Two layouts of variations in the volume fraction of SWCNTs were considered in the composite cylinder along the radius from inner to outer surface, where their names are incrementally decreasing (Inc Dec) and incrementally increasing (Inc Inc). Micromechanical models based on the Mori-Tanaka is used to define effective macroscopic properties of the nano composite shell. Using equations of motion, stress-strain and their corresponding constitutive correlations of a polystyrene vessel, a second order ordinary differential equation was proposed based on the radial displacement. The higher order governing equation was solved in order to obtain the distribution of displacement and thermal stresses in radial, circumferential and axial directions. The results indicate that FG distributions of SWCNTs have significant effect on thermal stresses and displacements in axial, radial and circumferential directions, so that in Inc Inc layout, the radial and circumferential stresses are lower than of other FG structures.