Buckling analysis of composite conical shells reinforced by agglomerated functionally graded carbon nanotube

This study primary objective is to analyze the effect of agglomeration of carbon nanotubes on the buckling behavior of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite conical shells (FG-CNTCS). Considering the first-order shear deformation theory, the differential equations of buckling behavior are obtained. Subsequently, the buckling load was derived utilizing Galerkin methods. A parametric study is established to consider the influence of characteristic parameters on the buckling behavior of the FG-CNTCS. The results reveal that agglomeration of CNTs substantially reduces the buckling load. Considering that, the effect of high volume fractions of carbon nanotubes on increasing buckling load is overly inconsiderable, it is suggested to use low volume fractions of nanoparticles in producing this type of nanocomposites, which reduces the probability of agglomeration phenomenon and also cut down the manufacturing costs.