Three-dimensional free vibration analysis of functionally graded nanocomposite cylindrical panels reinforced by carbon nanotube

This work deals with a study of the vibrational properties of functionally graded nanocomposite cylindrical panels reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The carbon nanotube reinforced (CNTRC) cylindrical panel have smooth variation of carbon nanotube (CNT) fraction in the radial direction and the material properties are estimated by the extended rule of mixture. Symmetric and asymmetric volume fraction profiles are provided in this paper for comparison. Suitable displacement functions that identically satisfy the boundary conditions at the simply supported edges are used to reduce the equilibrium equations to a set of coupled ordinary differential equation with variable coefficients, which can be solved by a generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method. The results show that the kind of distribution and volume fraction of CNT have a significant effect on normalized natural frequency. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.