The influence of Stone–Thrower–Wales defect on vibrational characteristics of single-walled carbon nanotubes incorporating Timoshenko beam element

• The influence of STW defect on the vibrational characteristics of SWCNT׳s is scrutinized.
• Effects of various parameters on natural frequencies of defective CNT are studied.
• The significant influence of orientation of C–C bond concentrated at STW defect is observed.
• The critical position of defect is revealed near the fixed end for both boundary conditions.

The influence of Stone–Thrower–Wales (STW) defect is scrutinized on the fundamental frequency of single walled carbon nanotube invoking molecular mechanics approach. The modal finite element analysis is carried out by employing Timoshenko׳s beam element to construct the Carbon–Carbon bond of CNT lattice structure. Hence, three configurations of defective CNTs are taken into account by applying two kinds of boundary conditions. The results demonstrate that the frequencies are dependent on boundary conditions, CNT length, chirality and defect position as the critical position of STW defect is near the fixed end for both cantilever and bridge boundary conditions. Likewise, the results reveal that the natural frequencies extremely depend on the orientation of C–C bond concentrated at the STW defect. Meanwhile, by increasing the number of defects, the models indicate different behaviors ascribing to bond rearrangement imposed by STW defect. The results are in good agreement with those from other literatures.