Nonlocal scale effects on wave propagation in multi-walled carbon nanotubes

This paper represents the effect of nonlocal scale parameter on the wave propagation in multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Each wall of the MWCNT is modeled as first order shear deformation beams and the van der Waals interactions between the walls are modeled as distributed springs. The studies shows that the scale parameter introduces certain band gap region in both flexural and shear wave mode where no wave propagation occurs. This is manifested in the wavenumber plots as the region where the wavenumber tends to infinite (or group speed tends to zero). The frequency at which this phenomenon occurs is called the "Escape frequency". The analysis shows that, for a given N-walled carbon nanotube (CNT). the nonlocal scaling parameter has a significant effect on the shear wave modes of the N - 1 walls. The escape frequencies of the flexural and shear wave modes of the N-walls are inversely proportional to the nonlocal scaling parameter. It is also shown that the cut-off frequencies are independent of the nonlocal scale parameter. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.