Numerical analysis on nonlinear free vibration of carbon nanotube reinforced composite beams

This paper investigates the free vibration of nanocomposite beams reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The distribution of the SWCNTs may vary through the thickness of a beam and are aligned along the beam axial direction. The virtual strain and kinetic energies of the carbon nanotube (CNT) composite beam are obtained using the classical variational method of Hamilton's principle, and the geometric nonlinearity of von Kármán sense is also included. The eigenvalue equation for free vibration of the beam is derived by the p-Ritz method. Vibration frequency parameters for the uniformly distributed (UD) and functionally graded (FG) CNT beams based on the first-order and third-order beam theories are presented and the effects of CNT filler volume fraction, distribution, beam length to depth ratio and end support conditions on the nonlinear free vibration characteristics of the beams are discussed. Comparison studies for UD-CNT and FG-CNT beams based on the first-order and the third-order beam theories are also performed and the differences in vibration frequencies and the nonlinear to linear frequency ratios between these two theories are highlighted.