A New CNT-Oriented Shell Theory

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel shell theory tailored for modeling Carbon NanoTubes, capturing chirality differences and thickness variations, with explicit solutions for common boundary-value problems.

Contribution

It presents a new orthotropic shell theory for CNTs, including a simplified version for single-wall CNTs, with explicit solutions for key mechanical problems.

Findings

Explicit solutions for torsion, axial traction, and pressure problems.

Theory accounts for chirality and thickness changes in multi-wall CNTs.

Simplified model suitable for single-wall CNTs.

Abstract

A theory of linearly elastic orthotropic shells is presented, with potential application to the continuous modeling of Carbon NanoTubes. Two relevant features are: the selected type of orthotropic response, which should be suitable to capture differences in chirality; the possibility of accounting for thickness changes due to changes in inter-wall separation to be expected in multi-wall CNTs. A simpler version of the theory is also proposed, in which orthotropy is preserved but thickness changes are excluded, intended for possible application to single-wall CNTs. Another feature of both versions of the present theory is boundary-value problems of torsion, axial traction, uniform inner pressure, and rim flexure, can be solved explicitly in closed form. Various directions of ongoing further research are indicated.