Buckling of Laminated Carbon Nanotube-Reinforced Composite Plates on Elastic Foundations Using a Meshfree Method

Abstract

The buckling behavior of laminated composite plates reinforced by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) resting on Winkler–Pasternak elastic foundations under in-plane loads is investigated using reproducing kernel particle method (RKPM) based on first-order shear deformation theory. The minimum potential energy approach is utilized to obtain the governing equations and the stiffness matrices. The single-walled CNTs and poly-co-vinylene are used for the fibers and the matrix, respectively. The carbon nanotube fibers are uniformly distributed in the polymer matrix. The material properties of a carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (CNTRC) plate are estimated through a micromechanical model based on the extended rule of mixture. Full transformation approach is employed to enforce essential boundary conditions. The accuracy and convergency of the RKPM method is established by comparing the obtained results with the available literature. Then, the effects of volume fraction and orientation of CNTs, plate aspect ratio, plate width-to-thickness ratio and the elastic foundation parameters on the critical buckling load are investigated. The obtained results demonstrate that the geometric and mechanical properties and boundary conditions have noticeable effects on the buckling behavior of laminated CNTRC plates.