Bending response analysis of a laminated, tapered, curved, composite panel made from an agglomerated and wavy MWCNT–glass fiber–polymer hybrid

The work investigates the influence of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the bending behavior of laminated, spherical, cylindrical, hyperbolic, and elliptical tapered composite panels made from a MWCNT–glass fiber–polymer hybrid and subjected to transverse loading conditions. The deflection and stress behavior of the composite panels were studied by developing a mathematical model based on high-order shear deformation theory using finite element (FE) formulation. In this context, the agglomeration and waviness of MWCNTs were modeled and characterized using the Eshelby–Mori–Tanaka approach and a continuum mechanics based 3-D representative volume element (RVE), respectively. Subsequently, glass fiber was introduced as a reinforcement phase, and the elastic properties of the three-phase hybrid composite material were obtained using the Chamis model. The developed FE formulation was validated theoretically and experimentally. Further, detailed parametric studies were performed to examine the influence of micromechanical and structural characteristics such as weight fraction of MWCNTs, weight fraction of fiber, type of load, taper configuration, curved geometry, curvature ratio, and length to thickness ratio of the panel on the bending behavior of the composite panels. The effective laminated tapered curved composite panel, TC-3, tailored with improved MWCNT characteristics, can substantially resist the stresses from a bending load.