Bending Analysis of Carbon Nanotubes with Small Initial Curvature Embedded on an Elastic Medium Based on Nonlocal Elasticity and Galerkin Method

Carbon nanotubes have an important role in reinforcing nanocomposits. Many experimental observations have shown that in the most nanostructures such as nanocomposites, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are often characterized by a certain degree of waviness along their axial direction. In the present paper, the effects of initial curvature, influence of surrounding medium that is modeled as Winkler elastic foundation on behavior of slightly curved carbon nanotubes are investigated. To capture the small size effects, nonlocal elasticity theory is implemented. Bending governing equations are derived using the principle of minimum total potential energy and these nonlinear equations are solved by Newton Raphson method. It is shown that the larger the initial curvature, the higher deflection can occur. Furthermore, neglecting the effect of initial curvature of CNTs can lead to incorrect results.