Free Vibrations and Flutter Analysis of Composite Plates Reinforced with Carbon Nanotubes

This paper considers the free vibration and flutter of carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced nanocomposite plates subjected to supersonic flow. From the literature review, a great deal of research has been conducted on the free vibration and flutter response of high-volume CNT/nanocomposite structures; however, there is little research on the flutter instability of low-volume CNT/nanocomposite structures. In this study, free vibration and flutter analysis of classical CNT/nanocomposite thin plates with aligned and uniformly distributed reinforcement and low CNT volume fraction are performed. The geometry of the CNTs and the definition of the nanocomposite material properties are considered. The nanocomposite properties are estimated based on micromechanical modeling, while the governing relations of the nanocomposite plates are derived according to Kirchhoff's plate theory with von Karman nonlinear strains. Identification of vibrational modes for nanocomposite thin plates and analytical/graphical evaluation of flutter are presented. The novel contribution of this work is the analysis of the eigenfrequencies and dynamic instabilities of nanocomposite plates with a low fraction of CNTs aligned and uniformly distributed in the polymer matrix. This article is helpful for a comprehensive understanding of the influence of a low-volume fraction and uniform distribution of CNTs and boundary conditions on the dynamic instabilities of nanocomposite plates.