Thermal-mechanical vibration and instability of a fluid-conveying single-walled carbon nanotube embedded in an elastic medium based on nonlocal elasticity theory

Based on the theories of thermal elasticity mechanics and nonlocal elasticity, an elastic Bernoulli-Euler beam model is developed for thermal-mechanical vibration and buckling instability of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) conveying fluid and resting on an elastic medium. The finite element method is adopted to obtain the numerical solutions to the model. The effects of temperature change, nonlocal parameter and elastic medium constant on the vibration frequency and buckling instability of SWCNT conveying fluid are investigated. It can be concluded that at low or room temperature, the fundamental natural frequency and critical flow velocity for the SWCNT increase as the temperature change increases, on the other hand, while at high temperature the fundamental natural frequency and critical flow velocity decrease as the temperature change increases. The fundamental natural frequency for the SWCNT decreases as the nonlocal parameter increases, both the fundamental natural frequency and critical flow velocity increase as elastic medium constant increases. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.