Bending of functionally graded carbon nanotube reinforced composite plates using dynamic relaxation method

Nonlinear bending of a functionally graded nanocomposite plate reinforced by aligned and straight single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) subjected to a uniform transverse load and thermal load is investigated. The material properties of the nanocomposite plate are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction، Four types of distributions of the reinforcement material are considered، that is، uniform and three kinds of functionally graded distributions of carbon nanotubes along the thickness direction of plates. The material properties of SWCNT are determined according to molecular dynamics (MDs)، and then the effective material properties at a point are estimated according to the rule of mixture. The equilibrium equations are based on first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) and von Kármán strains. These system of equations are solved by Dynamic Relaxation method to determine the load-deflection and load-bending moment curves. Some results for nanocomposite plates are compared with the ones reported by the ABAQUS finite element software. Furthermore، some comparison study is carried out to compare the current solution with the results reported in the literature for isotropic and Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs) plates. Numerical results indicate that volume fraction of carbon nanotube، distribution of CNTs، plate width-to-thickness ratio، plate aspect ratio and different boundary condition have pronounced effects on the nonlinear response of nanocomposite plates.