Agglomeration Effects on Static Stability Analysis of Multi-Scale Hybrid Nanocomposite Plates

We propose a multiscale approach to study the influence of carbon nanotubes’ agglomeration on the stability of hybrid nanocomposite plates. The hybrid nanocomposite consists of both macro- and nano-scale reinforcing fibers dispersed in a polymer matrix. The equivalent material properties are calculated by coupling the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka model with the rule of mixture accounting for effects of CNTs inside the generated clusters. Furthermore, an energy based approach is implemented to obtain the governing equations of the problem utilizing a refined higher-order plate theorem. Subsequently, the derived equations are solved by Galerkin’s analytical method to predict the critical buckling load. The influence of various boundary conditions is studied as well. After validation, a set of numerical examples are presented to explain how each variant can affect the plate’s natural frequency.