Static and free vibration analyses of carbon nanotube-reinforced composite plates using finite element method with first order shear deformation plate theory

This paper mainly presents bending and free vibration analyses of thin-to-moderately thick composite plates reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes using the finite element method based on the first order shear deformation plate theory. Four types of distributions of the uniaxially aligned reinforcement material are considered, that is, uniform and three kinds of functionally graded distributions of carbon nanotubes along the thickness direction of plates. The effective material properties of the nanocomposite plates are estimated according to the rule of mixture. Detailed parametric studies have been carried out to reveal the influences of the volume fractions of carbon nanotubes and the edge-to-thickness ratios on the bending responses, natural frequencies and mode shapes of the plates. In addition, the effects of different boundary conditions are also examined. Numerical examples are computed by an in-house finite element code and the results show good agreement with the solutions obtained by the FE commercial package ANSYS. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.