Buckling behaviour of elliptical cylindrical shells and tubes under compression

This paper presents several issues that characterize the buckling behaviour of elliptical cylindrical shells and tubes under compression. First, a formulation of Generalised Beam Theory (GBT) developed to analyse the elastic buckling behaviour of non-circular hollow section (NCHS) members is presented. Since the radius varies along the cross-section mid-line, the main concepts involved in the determination of the deformation modes are adapted to account for the specific aspects related to elliptical cross-section geometry. After that, two independent sets of fully orthogonal deformation modes are determined: (i) local-shell modes satisfying the null membrane shear strain but exhibiting transverse extension and (ii) shell-type modes satisfying both assumptions of null membrane shear strain and null transverse extension. In order to illustrate the application, capabilities and versatility of the formulation, the local and global buckling behaviour of elliptical hollow section (EHS) members subjected to compression is analysed. In particular, in-depth studies concerning the influence of member length on the variation of the critical load and corresponding buckling mode shape are presented. Moreover, the GBT results are compared with estimates obtained by means of shell finite element analyses and are thoroughly discussed. The results show that short to intermediate length cylinders buckle mostly in local-shell modes, exhibiting only transverse extension, while intermediate length to long cylinders buckle mostly in shell-type modes (distortional and global modes), which are characterized by transverse bending and primary warping displacements. It is also shown that the present formulation is very efficient from the computational point of view since only three deformation modes (one local-shell, one distortional and one global) are required to evaluate the buckling behaviour of EHS cylinders for a wide range of lengths.     

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.     

Curvature effects on axially compressed buckling of a small-diameter double-walled carbon nanotube

The curvature effects of interlayer van der Waals (vdW) forces on axially compressed buckling of a double-walled carbon nanotube (DWNT) of diameter down to 0.7 nm are studied. Unlike most existing models which assume that the interlayer vdW pressure at a point between the inner and outer tubes depends merely on the change of the interlayer spacing at that point, the present model considers the dependence of the interlayer vdW pressure on the change of the curvatures of the inner and outer tubes at that point. A simple expression is derived for the curvature-dependence of the interlayer vdW pressure in which the curvature coefficient is determined. Based on this model, an explicit formula is obtained for the axial buckling strain. It is shown that neglecting the curvature effect alone leads to an under-estimate of the critical buckling strain with a relative error up to −7%, while taking the average radius of two tubes as the representative radius and the curvature effect leads to an over-estimate of the critical buckling strain with a relative error up to 20% when the inner radius downs to 0.35 nm. Therefore, the curvature effects play a significant role in axially compressed buckling problems only for DWNTs of very small radii. In addition, our results show that the effect of the vdW interaction pressure prior to buckling of DWNTs under pure axial stress is small enough and can be negligible whether the vdW interaction curvature effects are neglected or not.     

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.     

Axial buckling of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and nanopeapods

In this paper, we investigate both pre- and post-buckling behaviors of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and multi-walled carbon nanopeapods by incorporating into the applied forces of a prescribed beam equation both van der Waals interactions between the adjacent walls of the nanotubes and the interactions between the fullerenes and the inner wall of the nanotube. Two beam theories are employed. First, we utilize Donnell’s equilibrium equation to derive an axial stability condition for the multi-walled carbon nanotubes and multi-walled carbon nanopeapods. We then determine analytically the critical forces for single-walled and double-walled nanotubes and nanopeapods. Given the outer nanotube of a fixed radius, we observe that the critical force and strain derived from the axial buckling stability criterion decrease as a result of the molecular interactions between the adjacent layers of the nanotubes and the molecular interactions between the embedded fullerenes and the inner carbon nanotube, which is in agreement with existing literature. Next, we utilize an Euler–Bernoulli beam equation incorporating the curvature effect to obtain the post-buckled axial bending displacement for the multi-walled nanotubes and nanopeapods. We find that the interactions between molecules generate an inward force, which tends to resist any applied forces. While the inward force induced by the fullerenes to the inner wall of the nanotube vanishes as we increase the applied force, the inward force induced by the layers increases as the applied force increases. The main contribution of this paper is the incorporation of both van der Waals interactions and the curvature effect into prescribed beam theories to accurately measure the critical forces and the buckled displacements of multi-walled nanotubes and nanopeapods subject to a small external force. Our analysis is relevant to future nano devices, such as biological sensors and measuring devices for small forces arising from electrical charges or Casimir forces.     

Axially compressed buckling of pressured multiwall carbon nanotubes

This paper studies axially compressed buckling of an individual multiwall carbon nanotube subjected to an internal or external radial pressure. The emphasis is placed on new physical phenomena due to combined axial stress and radial pressure. According to the radius-to-thickness ratio, multiwall carbon nanotubes discussed here are classified into three types: thin, thick, and (almost) solid. The critical axial stress and the buckling mode are calculated for various radial pressures, with detailed comparison to the classic results of singlelayer elastic shells under combined loadings. It is shown that the buckling mode associated with the minimum axial stress is determined uniquely for multiwall carbon nanotubes under combined axial stress and radial pressure, while it is not unique under pure axial stress. In particular, a thin N-wall nanotube (defined by the radius-to-thickness ratio larger than 5) is shown to be approximately equivalent to a single layer elastic shell whose effective bending stiffness and thickness are N times the effective bending stiffness and thickness of singlewall carbon nanotubes. Based on this result, an approximate method is suggested to substitute a multiwall nanotube of many layers by a multilayer elastic shell of fewer layers with acceptable relative errors. Especially, the present results show that the predicted increase of the critical axial stress due to an internal radial pressure appears to be in qualitative agreement with some known results for filled singlewall carbon nanotubes obtained by molecular dynamics simulations.     

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…     

Torsional,flexural, and torsional-flexural buckling modes of a cylindrical shell under combined loading

Stability problems for cylindrical shells under various loading modes were considered in numerous papers. A detailed analysis of such problems can be found, e.g., in the monograph [1]. We refer to the solutions presented in this monograph as classical.For long cylindrical shells in axial compression, one of the buckling modes is the purely beam flexural mode similar to the classical buckling mode of a straight rod. It is well known that it can be studied by using the nonlinear or linearized equations of the membrane theory of shells. In [2], it was shown that, on the basis of such equations constructed starting from the noncontradictory version of geometrically nonlinear elasticity relations in the quadratic approximation [3], under the separate action of the axial compression, external pressure, and torsion, there are also previously unknown nonclassical buckling modes, most of which are shear ones.In the present paper, we show that the use of the above equations for cylindrical shells under compression and external pressure with simultaneous pure torsion or bending permits revealing the earlier unknown torsional, beam flexural, and beam torsional-flexural buckling modes, which are nonclassical, just as those found in [2]. The second of these buckling modes is realized when axially compressing forces are formed in the shell with simultaneous torsion, and the third of them is realized under compression combined with pure bending.It was found that, earlier than the classical buckling modes, the torsional buckling modes can be realized for relatively short shells with small shear rigidity in the tangent plane, while the second and third buckling modes can be realized for relatively long shells.     

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.     

The effects of chirality and boundary conditions on the mechanical properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes

The effects of chirality and boundary conditions on the elastic properties and buckling behavior of single-walled carbon nanotubes are investigated using atomistic simulations. The influences of the tube length and diameter are also included. It is found that the elastic properties of carbon nanotubes at small deformations are insensitive to the tube chirality and boundary conditions during compression. However, for large deformations occurred upon both compression and bending, the tube buckling behavior is shown to be very sensitive to both tube chirality and boundary conditions. Therefore, while the popular continuum thin shell model can be successfully applied to describe nanotube elastic properties at small deformation such as the Young’s modulus, it cannot correctly account for the buckling behavior. These results may allow better evaluation of nanotube mechanical properties via appropriate atomistic simulations.     

碳纳米管在简单荷载作用下的变形屈曲行为研究

采用分子动力学方法研究了不同螺旋性的单壁碳纳米管在轴压、扭转和外压分别作用下的变形屈曲行为。针对每种加载形式，给出了宏观形式的内力一变形曲线来反映碳原子间相互作用力的变化与碳管变形量之间的关系。对碳管在这三种不同荷载作用下的失稳特性、微观结构和应变能的变化进行了详细的分析。结合经典弹性理论和本文的模拟结果，得出了单壁碳纳米管的等效壁厚、弹性模量和Poisson比。另外，通过对比不同螺旋性碳管的模拟结果，讨论了螺旋性对碳纳米管力学行为的影响。文中采用的势能函数为Brenner多体势。     

腹板V形加劲冷弯薄壁卷边槽钢柱试验研究

为了解腹板V形加劲冷弯薄壁卷边槽钢构件的受压性能,对8根短柱和中长柱进行了轴心受压试验研究。在试验之前首先用有限条和有限元方法对柱试件进行了详细的设计,以确保发生畸变屈曲失效。柱受压试验结果发现：所有试件均发生畸变屈曲失效破坏,同时在峰值荷载时中长柱试件有绕弱轴的弯曲产生,畸变屈曲和局部屈曲一样也有一定的屈曲后强度。在总结分析现有国内外规范计算理论的基础上,提出了基于直接强度法设计腹板V形加劲冷弯薄壁卷边槽钢轴压构件畸变屈曲承载力的计算方法。采用该建议方法计算所得结果与试验值和参数分析值吻合较好,其设计过程简便且安全可靠。     

Lateral buckling of beams with shear deformations – A hyperelastic formulation

The equilibrium and buckling equations are derived for the lateral buckling of a prismatic straight beam. A consistent finite strain constitutive law is used, which is based on a hyperelastic model for an isotropic material. The kinematics of the cross-sectional deformations are based on a Timoshenko type beam displacement of the cross-sectional plane using Euler angles and two shear finite rotations coupled with warping taken normal to the displaced plane. Also derived are the second order approximations to the displacements, curvatures, twist and internal actions. The constitutive relationships for the internal actions reveal new coupling terms between the bending moments, torsion and bimoment, which are functions of the cross-sectional warping and shear deformations. New Wagner type nonlinear torsion terms are derived which are functions of the warping of the cross-sectional plane, and are coupled to the twisting and shear deformations of the cross-section. Solutions are determined for the lateral buckling of a prismatic monosymmetric beam under pure bending and the flexural–torsional buckling under axial compression. For the flexural–torsional buckling problem it is found that the Euler type column buckling formula is consistent with Haringx’s column buckling formula while the torsional buckling formula is different to conventional equations. The second variation of the total potential is also derived. The effects of shear deformations are explored by examining the non-dimensional lateral buckling equation for a simply supported beam.     

Molecular mechanics method applied to problems of stability and natural vibrations of single-layer carbon nanotubes

The molecular mechanics (MM) method is used to determine the frequencies and natural vibration shapes and to determine the buckling critical parameters and the postcritical deformation shapes of single-walled carbon nanotubes with twisted ends. The following two variants of the MM method are used: the standard MM method and the mixed method of molecular mechanics/molecular structure mechanics method (MM/MSM). Computer simulation shows that the MM/MSM method allows one to obtain acceptable values of frequencies and natural vibration shapes as well as of critical angles of twist, appropriate buckling modes, and postcritical deformation configurations of nanotubes compared with the same characteristics of nanotube free vibrations and buckling obtained by the standard MM method.     

A structural mechanics approach for predicting the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes

Based on molecular mechanics, a structural mechanics model of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was developed with special consideration given to the bending stiffness of the graphite layer. The potentials associated with the atomic interactions within a CNT were evaluated by the strain energies of beam elements which serve as structural substitutions of covalent bonds in a CNT. In contrast to the original model developed by Li and Chou (Int. J. Solids Struct. 40(10):2487–2499, 2003), in the current model the out-of-plane deformation (inversion) of the bond was distinguished from the in-plane deformation by considering a rectangular cross-section for the beam element. Consequently, the model is able to study problems where the effect of local bending of the graphite layer in a carbon nanotube is significant. A closed-form solution of the sectional properties of the beam element was derived analytically. The model was verified through the analysis of rolling a graphite sheet into a carbon nanotube. Using the present model, the buckling behavior of nanotubes under bending is simulated. The predicted critical bending angle agrees well with molecular dynamics simulations.     

不同失效模式下轴压管状结构的吸能特性比较

圆管、方管等管状结构受轴向的压缩作用,是工程上常见的一种结构受力形式.由于几何尺寸、边界条件和材料特性的不同,管状结构可以发生5种不同的失效模式:渐进屈曲、整体失稳、翻转、膨胀和劈裂.本文综述了近年来管状结构在轴压作用下不同失效模式的理论建模、实验测试和数值仿真研究结果,并对5种失效模式的力学响应、能量吸收特性进行了对比与分析.     

Investigation of vacancy defects effects on the buckling behavior of SWCNTs via a structural mechanics approach

In this paper, the influence of various vacancy defects on the critical buckling loads and strains in carbon nanotubes under axial compression is investigated via a new structural model in ABAQUS software. The necessity of desirable conditions and expensive tests for experimental methods, in addition to the time expenditure required for atomic simulations, are the motivation for this work, which, in addition to yielding accurate results, avoids the obstacles of the previous methods. In fact, this model is a combination of other structural models designed to eliminate the deficiencies inherent in individual approaches. Because the present model is constructed in the CAE space of ABAQUS, there is no need to program for different loading and boundary conditions. A nonlinear connector is considered for modeling of stretching and torsional interactions, and a nonlinear spring is used for modeling of the angle variation interactions. A Morse potential is employed for stretching and bending potentials, and a periodic type of bond torsion is used for torsion interactions. The effect of different types of vacancy defects at various locations on the critical buckling loads and strains is studied for zigzag and armchair nanotubes with various aspect ratios (Length/Diameter). Comparison of our results with those of buckling of shells with cutouts indicates that vacancy defects in the carbon nanotubes can most likely be modeled as cutouts of the shells. Finally, results of the present structural model are compared with those from molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and show good agreement between our model and the MD model.     

STUDY ON AMPLIFICATION FACTOR OF FLEXURAL BUCKLING CRITICAL LOAD OF AXIAL COMPRESSION BARS1)

为了建立一般条件下轴压构件屈曲临界载荷的计算理论,首先对轴心受压构件发生屈曲时的总势能方程进行了推导,然后采用Rayleigh-Ritz法并基于势能驻值原理得到了4种不同端部约束条件下轴压构件的屈曲临界载荷,对比欧拉临界载荷,给出了临界载荷放大系数 的计算式,全面考虑了构件长细比、压缩变形、剪切变形以及截面形状系数对临界载荷的影响,推导的计算式可用于较小长细比轴压构件发生屈曲时临界载荷的计算.圆截面和双轴对称工字形截面轴压构件屈曲临界载荷的分析表明构件长细比是影响放大系数的主导因素。     

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.     

Axisymmetric compressive buckling of multi-walled carbon nanotubes under different boundary conditions

The paper studies the axisymmetric compressive buckling behavior of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) under different boundary conditions based on continuum mechanics model. A buckling condition is derived for determining the critical buckling load and associated buckling mode of MWNTs, and numerical results are worked out for MWNTs with different aspect ratios under fixed and simply supported boundary conditions. It is shown that the critical buckling load of MWNTs is insensitive to boundary conditions, except for nanotubes with smaller radii and very small aspect ratio. The associated buckling modes for different layers of MWNTs are in-phase, and the buckling displacement ratios for different layers are independent of the boundary conditions and the length of MWNTs. Moreover, for simply supported boundary conditions, the critical buckling load is compared with the corresponding one for axial compressive buckling, which indicates that the critical buckling load for axial compressive buckling can be well approximated by the corresponding one for axisymmetric compressive buckling. In particular, for axial compressive buckling of double-walled carbon nanotubes, an analytical expression is given for approximating the critical buckling load. The present investigation may be of some help in further understanding the mechanical properties of MWNTs.