Impact analysis of CNT-reinforced composite plates based on Reddy's higher-order shear deformation theory using an element-free approach

To the best of our knowledge, the available literature investigating the impact analysis of functionally graded carbon nanotube reinforced composite (CNTRC) plates is very limited and missing in the case of utilizing any of the element-free methods. In this paper, a novel element-free IMLS-Ritz model in association with Reddy's higher-order shear deformation theory is presented to study the impact analysis of CNTRC plates with both uniform and functionally graded carbon nanotubes (CNTs) distributions. The modified non-linear Hertz contact law is used to define the contact force between the CNTRC target plates and the spherical impactor during the impact duration. Newmark time integration method is employed to identify the dynamic response of the CNTRC plates and the impactor displacement. Two Mori-Tanaka methods are utilized to calculate the effective material properties of the composites reinforced with randomly oriented or aligned straight CNTs. The current approach accuracy is validated with the available open literature results showing a clear agreement. Detailed parametric studies are performed to study the effects of CNTs distributions, plate's width-to-thickness ratio, impactor's initial velocity, impactor's radius and CNTs volume fraction on the results. Furthermore, a comparison between the results obtained by the two Mori-Tanka methods is presented.