Vibrational behavior of non‐uniform piezoelectric sandwich beams made of CNT‐reinforced polymer nanocomposite by considering the agglomeration effect of CNTs

The present work deals with natural frequency analysis of non‐uniform nanocomposite beams with surface‐bonded piezoelectric layers by considering the agglomeration effect of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs). The material properties of the nanocomposite beam are predicted employing Eshelby–Mori–Tanaka approach based on an equivalent fiber and compared with available experimental data in the literature. The equation of motion is derived employing Hamilton's principle and Generalized Differential Quadrature technique as an efficient and accurate numerical tool is employed for free vibration analysis of the structures. Detailed parametric studies are carried out to examine influences of CNTs volume fraction, CNTs agglomeration, thickness of piezoelectric layers, piezoelectric constant, dielectric constant, boundary conditions etc., on the behavior of freely vibrating smart structure. Results represent that for some cases, consideration of agglomeration effect of CNTs is not required while for some other cases it has a significant role on the response. The numerical results also reveal that using thick piezoelectric layer does not necessarily improve the natural frequency of the structure. POLYM. COMPOS., 38:E553–E562, 2017. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers