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Numerical study on crack propagation in functionally graded CNT-reinforced composite plates

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Abstract

This paper presents a numerical method for simulating the crack propagation in functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) plates. The numerical method is based on 2-D natural element method (NEM) which can overcome the inherent demerits of FEM and conventional meshfree methods. The 3-D displacement field of cracked orthotropic plate is formulated using the (1, 1, 0)* hierarchical model and approximated by 2-D NEM. The thickness-wise mixed-mode stress intensity factors (SIFs) are computed using the modified interaction integral I(1,2) and the 2-D complex-valued crack-tip singular fields. The crack propagation angle is determined by the modified maximum circumferential stress (MCS) criterion, and the crack trajectories are predicted by an incremental crack propagation simulation scheme. The present numerical method is verified from the comparison of predicted crack trajectories with the published reference solutions. Moreover, using the developed numerical method, the crack trajectory characteristics of FG-CNTRC plates are parametrically investigated with respect to the major parameters. From the parametric investigation, it is found that the crack trajectories of FG-CNTRC are significantly influenced by the material orientation angle and the stiffness ratio. But, the effects of the initial crack angle and the volume fraction and volume fraction pattern of CNTs are not remarkable.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (2020R1A2C1100924).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Hongik University, Sejong, 30016, Korea

    **-Rae Cho

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  1. **-Rae Cho
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Correspondence to **-Rae Cho.

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**-Rae Cho received his B.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Seoul National University in 1983. He then received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Texas at Austin in 1993 and 1995, respectively. He is currently a Professor at the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering in Hongik University. His major research field is the computational mechanics in solid/structural mechanics, materials science and ocean engineering.

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Cho, JR. Numerical study on crack propagation in functionally graded CNT-reinforced composite plates. J Mech Sci Technol 36, 5679–5688 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-022-1030-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-022-1030-9

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