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

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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.