Postbuckling of double-walled carbon nanotubes with temperature dependent properties and initial defects under combined axial and radial mechanical loads (Q996606)

The authors provide an analytical solution for the postbuckling of double-walled carbon nanotubes with temperature dependent material properties and initial point defects subjected to combined axial and radial loads in thermal environments. Material properties are assumed to be temperature dependent and obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. An elastic double shell model with van der Waals interaction forces is proposed and each tube is described as an individual orthotropic shell and the interlayer friction is negligible between the inner and outer tubes. The governing equations are based on higher order shear deformation shell theory with a von Kármán-Donnell-type of kinematic nonlinearity and include thermal effects. The boundary layer theory suggested by \textit{H.-S. Shen, T.-Y. Chen} [Appl. Math. Mech., Engl. Ed. 9, No. 6, 557--571 (1988; Zbl 0729.73685)] is extended to the case of double-walled carbon nanotubes. A singular perturbation technique is employed to determine the interactive buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. The nonlinear prebuckling deformations of the shell and the initial local defects, which are simulated as a dimple on the tube wall, are both taken into account. The numerical illustrations show the full nonlinear postbuckling response of perfect and imperfect, double-walled carbon nanotubes subjected to combined axial and radial mechanical loads under different sets of environmental conditions.