Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2018) 133: 110
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2018-11942-y

Regular Article

Postbuckling of magneto-electro-elastic CNT-MT composite nanotubes resting on a nonlinear elastic medium in a non-uniform thermal environment

¹ Department of Bio-systems Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

^* e-mail: shamsi@uk.ac.ir

Received: 28 December 2017
Accepted: 29 January 2018
Published online: 15 March 2018

Abstract

As a first endeavor, the effect of nonlinear elastic foundation on the postbuckling behavior of smart magneto-electro-elastic (MEE) composite nanotubes is investigated. The composite nanotube is affected by a non-uniform thermal environment. A typical MEE composite nanotube consists of microtubules (MTs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with a MEE cylindrical nanoshell for smart control. It is assumed that the nanoscale layers of the system are coupled by a polymer matrix or filament network depending on the application. In addition to thermal loads, magneto-electro-mechanical loads are applied to the composite nanostructure. Length scale effects are taken into account using the nonlocal elasticity theory. The principle of virtual work and von Karman’s relations are used to derive the nonlinear governing differential equations of MEE CNT-MT nanotubes. Using Galerkin’s method, nonlinear critical buckling loads are determined. Various types of non-uniform temperature distribution in the radial direction are considered. Finally, the effects of various parameters such as the nonlinear constant of elastic medium, thermal loading factor and small scale coefficient on the postbuckling of MEE CNT-MT nanotubes are studied.