A coupled thermomechanics approach for frequency information of electrically composite microshell using heat-transfer continuum problem

Abstract

This article analyzes critical voltage and frequency information of functionally graded graphene nanoplatelets-reinforced composite (FG-GPLRC) porous cylindrical microshell embedded in piezoelectric layer, subjected to temperature gradient. The current non-classical model is capable of capturing the size dependency in the microshells by using only one material length scale parameter; moreover, the mathematical formulation of microshells based on the classical model can be recovered from the present model by neglecting the material length scale parameter. To satisfy temperature boundary conditions, the Fourier series solution is extracted. In addition, for the first time, thermal conductivity coefficients regarding each GPL’s distribution pattern are presented. The thermally equations are solved via Heun’s differential equation. The mechanical properties of FG-GPLRC layer are estimated based on modified Halpin–Tsai micromechanics and rule of mixtures. Hamilton’s principle is utilized to develop governing equations of motion and boundary conditions. Finally, an analytical solution is carried out based on Navier method to obtain critical voltage and frequency in the case of simply supported shell, whereas a semi-analytical solution is proposed based on differential quadrature method (DQM) for other boundary conditions. The results show that piezoelectric layer, graphene nanoplatelets’ (GPLs) distribution pattern, porosity distribution, difference gradient thermal, length scale parameter and GPL weight function play important roles on the natural frequency and critical voltage of the GPL porous cylindrical microshell coupled with piezoelectric actuator. The results of the current study are useful suggestions for the design of materials science, micro-electromechanical systems and nano-electromechanical systems such as nano-actuators and nano-sensors.