Torsional postbuckling of nanotube-reinforced composite cylindrical shells in thermal environments

A postbuckling analysis is presented for a functionally graded composite cylindrical shell reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) subjected to torsion in thermal environments. The multi-scale model for functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) shells under torsion is proposed. A singular perturbation technique along with a two-step perturbation approach is employed to determine the buckling load and postbuckling equilibrium path. The numerical illustrations concern the torsional buckling and postbuckling behavior of perfect and imperfect, FG-CNTRC cylindrical shells under different sets of thermal environmental conditions. The results for uniformly distributed CNTRC shell, which is a special case in the present study, are compared with those of the FG-CNTRC shell. The results show that the linear functionally graded reinforcements can increase the buckling torque as well as postbuckling strength of the shell under torsion when the reinforcement has a symmetrical distribution. The results reveal that the carbon nanotube volume fraction has a significant effect on the buckling load and postbuckling behavior of CNTRC shells under torsion. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.