Nonlinear Dynamic Buckling of Viscous-Fluid-Conveying PNC Cylindrical Shells with Core Resting on Visco-Pasternak Medium

The use of intelligent nanocomposites in sensing and actuation applications has become quite common over the past decade. In this article, electro-thermo-mechanical nonlinear dynamic buckling of an orthotropic piezoelectric nanocomposite (PNC) cylindrical shell conveying viscous fluid is investigated. The composite cylindrical shell is made from Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) and reinforced by zigzag boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) where characteristics of the equivalent PNC being determined using micro-mechanical model. The poly ethylene (PE) foam-core is modeled based on Pasternak foundation. Employing the charge equation, Donnell's theory and Hamilton's principle, the four coupled nonlinear differential equations containing displacement and electric potential terms are derived. Harmonic differential quadrature method (HDQM) is applied to obtain the critical dynamic buckling load. A detailed parametric study is conducted to elucidate the influences of the geometrical aspect ratio, in-fill ratio of core, viscoelastic medium coefficients, material types of the shell and temperature gradient on the dynamic buckling load of the PNC cylindrical shell. Results indicate that the dimensionless critical dynamic buckling load increases when piezoelectric effect is considered.