A simple-input method to analyze thick composite tubes under pure bending moment reinforced by carbon nanotubes

In the present work, thick laminated carbon nanotube-reinforced composite straight tubes subjected to pure bending moments are investigated using a new simple-input analytical method. The most general displacement field of elasticity for an arbitrary laminated orthotropic tube is employed to analytically determine stresses under pure bending moments based on a layer-wise method. The accuracy of the proposed method is subsequently verified by comparing the numerical results obtained using the proposed method and finite element method (FEM) with experimental data. The results show good agreement. Also, high efficiency in terms of computational time is achieved when the proposed method is used as compared with FEM. In addition, effects of using nanotubes in laminated composites on stress distributions of orthotropic straight tubes are investigated.