Nonlinear vibrations of embedded multi-walled carbon nanotubes using a variational approach

The present work deals with the problem of the nonlinear vibrations of multi-walled carbon nanotubes embedded in an elastic medium. A multiple-beam model is utilized in which the governing equations of each layer are coupled with those of its adjacent ones via the van der Waals interlayer force. The variational iteration method (VIM) is adopted to obtain the amplitude-frequency curves for large-amplitude vibrations of single-, double- and triple-walled carbon nanotubes. The influences of changes in material constants of the surrounding elastic medium and the geometric parameters on the vibration characteristics of multi-walled carbon nanotubes are investigated. The results from the VIM solution are compared and shown to be in excellent agreement with the available solutions from the open literature. The capability of the present analytical technique is clarified in terms of numerical accuracy as well as computational efficiency. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.