Dynamic torsional buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube embedded in an elastic medium

An elastic double-shell model based on continuum mechanics is presented to study the dynamic torsional buckling of an embedded double-walled carbon nanotube. Based on the presented model, a condition is derived to predict the buckling load of the embedded double-walled nanotube, and the effect of the van der Waals forces to the buckling load is discussed when an inner nanotube is inserted into an embedded outer one. In particular, the paper shows that the buckling load of the embedded double-walled nanotube is always between that of the isolated inner nanotube and that of the embedded outer nanotube for both dynamic and static torsional buckling, due to the effect of the van der Waals forces. This result is different from that obtained by the existing analysis neglecting the difference of the radii for the embedded double-walled nanotube, which indicates that disregarding the difference of the radii of multi-walled nanotubes cannot properly describe the effect of the van der Waals forces between interlayer spacing. In particular, for static torsional buckling of a double-walled nanotube, it is shown that the critical buckling load cannot only be enhanced, but also be reduced when inserting an inner nanotube into an isolated single-walled one. Additionally, it is shown that the elastic medium always increases the critical buckling load of double-walled nanotubes. The critical buckling load of embedded double-walled nanotubes for dynamic torsional buckling is proved to be no less than that for static torsional buckling.     

Buckling of embedded multi-walled carbon nanotubes under combined torsion and axial loading

This paper describes an investigation into elastic buckling of an embedded multi-walled carbon nanotube under combined torsion and axial loading, which takes account of the radial constraint from the surrounding elastic medium and van der Waals force between two adjacent tube walls. Depending on the ratio of radius to thickness, the multi-walled carbon nanotubes discussed here are classified as thin, thick, and nearly solid. Critical buckling load with the corresponding mode is obtained for multi-walled carbon nanotubes under combined torsion and axial loading, with various values of the radius to thickness ratio and surrounded with different elastic media. The study indicates that the buckling mode (m, n) of an embedded multi-walled carbon nanotube under combined torsion and axial loading is unique and it is different from that with axial compression only. New features for the buckling of an embedded multi-walled carbon nanotube under combined torsion and axial loading and the meaningful numerical results are useful in the design of nanodrive device, nanotorsional oscillator and rotational actuators, where multi-walled carbon nanotubes act as basic elements.     

INVESTIGATION OF THE DYNAMIC BUCKLING OF DOUBLEWALLED CARBON NANOTUBE SUBJECTED TO AXIAL PERIODIC DISTURBING FORCES

IntroductionThediscoveryofthefirstcarbonnanotubes[1]hasattractedwideattentionandstimulatedextensivestudies[2 - 5 ].Thestudiesshowedthatthecarbonnanotubesexhibitsuperiormechanical,electronicandchemicalproperties.Onthemechanicalbehavior,thecarbonnanotubespossessexceptionallyhighstrength ,stiffnessandelasticmodulus.Theestimatemodulusofthecarbonnanotubemayreachashighas 1TPa.Itisthelargestofallknownmaterials.Thestrengthorstiffnessishigherthananyknownfiber[3].Thecarbonnanotubeareusedascompositemat…     

Nonlinear analysis of a SWCNT over a bundle of nanotubes

The deformation of a single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) interacting with a curved bundle of nanotubes is analyzed. The SWCNT is modeled as a straight elastic inextensible beam based on small deformation. The bundle of nanotubes is assumed rigid and the interaction is due to the van der Waals forces. An analytical solution is obtained using a bilinear approximation to the van der Waals forces. The analytical results are in good agreement with the results of two numerical methods. The results indicate that the SWCNT remains near the curved bundle provided that its curvature is below a critical value. For curvatures above this critical value the SWCNT breaks contact with the curved bundle and nearly returns to its straight position. A parameter study shows that the critical curvature depends on the stiffness of the SWCNT and the absolute minimum energy associated with the van der Waals forces but it is independent of the SWCNT's length in general. An analytical estimate of the critical curvature is developed. The results of this study may be applicable to composites of nanotubes where separation phenomena are suspected to occur.     

The thermal effect on axially compressed buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube

The thermal effect on axially compressed buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube is studied in this paper. The effects of temperature change, surrounding elastic medium and van der Waals forces between the inner and outer nanotubes are taken into account. Using continuum mechanics, an elastic double-shell model with thermal effect is presented for axially compressed buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube embedded in an elastic matrix under thermal environment. Based on the model, an explicit formula for the critical axial stress is derived in terms of the buckling modes of the shell and the parameters that indicate the effects of temperature change, surrounding elastic medium and the van der Waals forces. Based on that, some simplified analysis is carried out to estimate the critical axial stress for axially compressed buckling of the double-walled carbon nanotube. Numerical results for the general case are obtained for the thermal effect on axially compressed buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube. It is shown that the axial buckling load of double-walled carbon nanotube under thermal loads is dependent on the wave number of axially buckling modes. And a conclusion is drawn that at low and room temperature the critical axial stress for infinitesimal buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube increase as the value of temperature change increases, while at high temperature the critical axial stress for infinitesimal buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube decrease as the value of temperature change increases.     

Effects of dimensional parameters and various boundary conditions on axisymmetric vibrations of multi-walled carbon nanotubes using a continuum model

Axisymmetric vibrations of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with finite length are investigated in this paper. A multi-walled carbon nanotube is modeled with multiple elastic isotropic shells. Based on a continuum model and considering van der Waals forces between tubes, a two-dimensional finite element model is developed to obtain axisymmetric natural frequencies and mode shapes of MWCNTs. First, the axisymmetric vibrational characteristics of single-walled carbon nanotubes are investigated, and then, they are compared with those of MWCNTs. The effects of van der Waals forces on radial vibration of MWCNTs are also explained. Moreover, influences of end conditions on radial and axial natural frequencies of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with wide range of length-to-thickness ratio are studied by considering the free-free (F-F) and simply supported (S-S) end conditions. Besides, it is focused on dependence of axisymmetric mode frequencies on dimensional parameters such as length, diameter, as well as number of layers of MWCNTs. Through this, explicit expressions are found for calculating the radial breathing mode and longitudinal mode frequencies of MWCNTs.     

双层碳纳米管在扭矩作用下的屈曲

考虑双层碳纳米管层间范德华力的作用,利用连续介质力学的壳体理论,建立了扭矩作用下碳纳米管屈曲问题的双层弹性壳体模型,给出了相应的临界屈曲扭矩,分析了双层碳纳米管层间范德华力对临界屈曲扭矩的影响。     

范德华力对多壁纳米碳管力学性质的影响

用分子动力学方法模拟了多壁纳米碳管在压缩、弯曲变形下力与变形的关系．通过与组成多壁碳管的各单壁碳管的比较分析,揭示了多壁纳米碳管层间范德华力对碳管力学性质的影响．采用Tersoff-Brenner势描述每一单壁纳米碳管内原子间作用,采用Lennard-Jones势描述碳管壁间范德华力．计算结果表明：多壁纳米碳管的比强度明显高于单壁纳米碳管．纳米碳管的半径虽然对杨氏模量影响不大,但对纳米碳管的曲屈行为影响却相当显著。     

Torsional buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube embedded in an elastic medium

The torsional buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube embedded in an elastic medium is studied in this paper. The effects of surrounding elastic medium and van der Waals forces between the inner and outer nanotubes are taken into account. Using continuum mechanics, an elastic double-shell model is presented for the torsional buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube. Based on the model, a condition is derived in terms of the buckling modes of the shell and the parameters describing the effect of van der Waals interaction and surrounding elastic medium. A simplified analysis is also carried out estimate the critical torque for torsional buckling of the double-walled carbon nanotube.     

Study of dynamic stability of the double-walled carbon nanotube under axial loading embedded in an elastic medium by the energy method

In this paper, the dynamic stability of single- and double-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT and DWCNT) under dynamic axial loading is investigated using the continuum mechanics model and the minimum total energy method. The natural frequencies of the SWCNT and the critical dynamic axial load of the SWCNT and DWCNT are obtained using the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The effects of the elastic medium and the van der Waals forces between the two layers in the DWCNT are taken into account using the Winkler model and Lennard-Jones theory, respectively. The effect of the small length scale is also considered using the Eringen Model. The critical dynamic axial load is increased by inserting an inner carbon nanotube (CNT) into an isolated CNT embedded in an elastic medium.     

Instability of thermally induced vibrations of carbon nanotubes

The dynamical stability of carbon nanotubes embedded in an elastic matrix under time-dependent axial loading is studied in this paper. The effects of van der Waals interaction forces between the inner and outer walls of nanotubes are taken into account. Using continuum mechanics, we apply an elastic layered shell model to solve the transverse parametric vibrations of a carbon nanotube. Both the Gaussian wide-band axial temperature changes and physically realizable temperature changes with known probability distributions are assumed as the tube axial loading. The energy-like functionals are used in the stability analysis. The emphasis is placed on a qualitative analysis of dynamic stability problem. Stability domains in the space of geometric, material and loading parameters are presented in analytical forms.     

Wave-like deformations for oscillating carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanostructures such as nanotubes and fullerenes, represent future materials because of their remarkable mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. Double-walled carbon nanotubes are widely studied as possible gigahertz oscillators, where the inner tube oscillates within the outer tube. These oscillators are believed to generate frequencies in the gigahertz range and typically of the order of 1–74 GHz. They are also known to generate wave-like formations on the outer surface. In this paper, we study such induced deformations on the surface of the outer tube, as generated by the moving inner tube. Following previous authors we assume that double-walled carbon nanotubes can be modelled as transversely isotropic linearly elastic materials. Using a previously derived approximate force distribution for the resultant van der Waals forces arising from the interatomic interactions, we solve a dynamic linearly elastic problem, and show that the resulting solution exhibits wave-like behaviour.     

Nonlinear vibrations of a single-walled carbon nanotube for delivering of nanoparticles

The capability of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in efficient transporting of drug molecules into the biological cells has been the focus of attention of various scientific disciplines during the past decade. From applied mechanics points of view, translocation of a nanoparticle inside the pore of a CNT would result in vibrations. The true understanding of the interactive forces between the moving nanoparticle and the inner surface of the CNT is a vital step in factual realization of such vibrations. Herein, by employing the nonlocal Rayleigh beam theory, nonlinear vibrations of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as nanoparticle delivery nanodevices are studied. The existing van der Waals interactional forces between the constitutive atoms of the nanoparticle and those of the SWCNT, frictional force, and both longitudinal and transverse inertial effects of the moving nanoparticle are taken into account in the proposed model. The nonlinear-nonlocal governing equations are explicitly obtained and then numerically solved using Galerkin method and a finite difference scheme in the space and time domains, respectively. The roles of the velocity and mass weight of the nanoparticle, small-scale effect, slenderness ratio, and vdW force on the maximum longitudinal and transverse displacements as well as the maximum nonlocal axial force and bending moment within the SWCNT are examined. In general, the obtained results reveal that the nonlinear analysis should be performed when the nanotube structure is traversed by a moving nanoparticle with high levels of the mass weight and velocity.     

Prediction of the critical buckling load of multi-walled carbon nanotubes under axial compression

In this paper, we propose a new explicit analytical formula of the critical buckling load of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNT) under axial compression. This formula takes into account van der Waals interactions between adjacent tubes and the effect of terms involving tube radii differences generally neglected in the derived expressions of the critical buckling load published in the literature. The elastic multiple Donnell shells continuum approach is employed for modelling the multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The validation of the proposed formula is made by comparison with a numerical solution. The influence of the neglected terms is also studied.     

DYNAMIC BUCKLING OF DOUBLE-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBES UNDER STEP AXIAL LOAD

An approximate method is presented in this paper for studying the dynamic buckling of double-walled carbon nanotubes （DWNTs） under step axial load. The analysis is based on the continuum mechanics model, which takes into account the van der Waals interaction between the outer and inner nanotubes. A buckling condition is derived, from which the critical buckling load and associated buckling mode can be determined. As examples, numerical results are worked out for DWNTs under fixed boundary conditions. It is shown that, due to the effect of van der Waals forces, the critical buckling load of a DWNT is enhanced when inserting an inner tube into a single-walled one. The paper indicates that the critical buckling load of DWNTs for dynamic buckling is higher than that for static buckling. The effect of the radii is also examined. In addition, some of the results are compared with the previous ones.     

Postbuckling prediction of double-walled carbon nanotubes under axial compression

An elastic double-shell model is presented for the buckling and postbuckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube subjected to axial compression. The analysis is based on a continuum mechanics model in which each tube of a double-walled carbon nanotube is described as an individual elastic shell and the interlayer friction is negligible between the inner and outer tubes. The governing equations are based on the Karman–Donnell-type nonlinear differential equations. The van der Waals interaction between the inner and outer nanotubes and the nonlinear prebuckling deformations of the shell are both taken into account. A boundary layer theory of shell buckling is extended to the case of double-walled carbon nanotubes under axial compression. A singular perturbation technique is employed to determine the buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. Numerical results reveal that the single-walled carbon nanotube and the double-walled carbon nanotube both have an unstable postbuckling behavior.     

Effects of shear deformation on vibration of doublewalled carbon nanotubes embedded in an elastic medium

In this study, free vibration of simply supported multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded in an elastic medium was investigated by using the generalized shear deformation-beam theory (GSDBT). The effects of surrounding elastic medium, which is considered as a spring, defined by the Winkler model, and van der Waals forces from adjacent nanotubes are taken into account. Third-order shear deformation (TOSD) theory is used to study free vibration of a multi-walled carbon nanotube embedded in an elastic medium. Unlike Timoshenko beam theory, TOSD theory satisfies zero traction boundary conditions on the upper and lower surface of the structures, so there is no need to use a shear correction factor. Free vibration frequencies and amplitude ratios were obtained for various sides to thickness ratios and elastic medium effects and results are compared with previous studies. The results showed that significant difference exist between TOSD and Euler beam theory. It is also interesting to note that, although frequency parameter is increasing by increasing stiffness of embedded medium, amplitude ratios are insensitive to stiffness of embedded elastic medium. Dedicated to the honorable memory of my beloved mother Fatma Aydogdu (Romania,1933-Tekirdag, August 7, 2007)     

Shell element based model for wave propagation analysis in multi-wall carbon nanotubes

A spectrally formulated finite element is developed to study very high frequency elastic waves in carbon nanotubes (CNTs). A multi-walled nanotube (MWNT) is modelled as an assemblage of shell elements connected throughout their length by distributed springs, whose stiffness is governed by the van der Waals force acting between the nanotubes. The spectral element is formulated using the recently developed strategy based on singular value decomposition (SVD) and polynomial eigenvalue problem (PEP). The element can model a MWNT with any number of walls. Studies are carried out to investigate the effect of the number of walls on the spectrum and dispersion relation. The importance of shell element based model over the beam model is established. The zone of validity of the previously developed beam model is also investigated. It is shown that the shell model is required to capture the symmetric Lamb wave modes. It is also shown through numerical examples that the developed element efficiently captures the response of MWNT for Tera-hertz level frequency loading.     

GUIDED CIRCUMFERENTIAL WAVES IN DOUBLE-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBES

A model of guided circumferential waves propagating in double-walled carbon nan- otubes is built by the theory of wave propagation in continuum mechanics,while the van der Waals force between the inner and outer nanotube has been taken into account in the model.The dispersion curves of the guided circumferential wave propagation are studied,and some dispersion characteristics are illustrated by comparing with those of single-walled carbon nanotubes.It is found that in double-walled carbon nanotubes,the guided circumferential waves will propagate in more dispersive ways.More interactions between neighboring wave modes may take place.In particular,it has been found that a couple of wave modes may disappear at a certain frequency and that,while a couple of wave modes disappear,another new couple of wave modes are excited at the same wave number.     

Postbuckling of double-walled carbon nanotubes with temperature dependent properties and initial defects under combined axial and radial mechanical loads

Buckling and postbuckling analysis is presented for a double-walled carbon nanotube subjected to combined axial and radial loads in thermal environments. The analysis is based on a continuum mechanics model in which each tube of a double-walled carbon nanotube is described as an individual orthotropic shell with presence of van der Waals interaction forces and the interlayer friction is negligible between the inner and outer tubes. The governing equations are based on higher order shear deformation shell theory with a von Kármán-Donnell-type of kinematic nonlinearity and include thermal effects. Temperature-dependent material properties, which come from molecular dynamics simulations, and initial point defect, which is simulated as a dimple on the tube wall, are both taken into account. A singular perturbation technique is employed to determine the interactive buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. The numerical illustrations concern the postbuckling response of perfect and imperfect, double-walled carbon nanotubes subjected to combined axial and radial mechanical loads under different sets of thermal environments. The results reveal that temperature change only has a small effect on the postbuckling behavior of the double-walled carbon nanotube. The axially-loaded double-walled carbon nanotube subjected to radial pressure has an unstable postbuckling path, and the structure is imperfection–sensitive. In contrast, the pressure-loaded double-walled carbon nanotube subjected to axial compression has a very weak “snap-through” postbuckling path, and the structure is virtually imperfection–insensitive.