Nonlinear vibration and bending of sandwich plates with nanotube-reinforced composite face sheets

This paper studied the large amplitude vibration and the nonlinear bending of a sandwich plate with carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (CNTRC) face sheets resting on an elastic foundation in thermal environments. The material properties of CNTRC face sheets are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction, and are estimated through a micromechanical model. The governing equation of the plate that includes plate-foundation interaction is solved by a two-step perturbation technique. The thermal effects are also included and the material properties of both CNTRC face sheets and homogeneous core layer are assumed to be temperature-dependent. A detailed parametric study is conducted to study the effects of nanotube volume fraction, core-to-face sheet thickness ratio, temperature change, foundation stiffness and in-plane boundary conditions on the nonlinear vibration characteristics and nonlinear bending behaviors of sandwich plates with functionally graded CNTRC face sheets. The results for the same plate with uniformly distributed CNTRC face sheets are also provided for comparison. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.