Free vibration analysis of CNT-reinforced annular composite sandwich plates embedded with SMA wires

Shape memory alloy (SMA) wires have been extensively utilized in various engineering fields to achieve smart structures with controllable stiffness. Thus, it is of high importance to study the mechanical behaviors of structures with embedded SMA. This study investigates the free vibration analysis of an annular circular sandwich plate with a soft isotropic core and two polymeric face sheets reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and embedded SMA wires. The CNTs are uniformly distributed and randomly oriented, and the SMA wires are embedded in the radial direction. The plate is modeled based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and the governing equations and boundary conditions are derived using Hamilton's principle. The material properties of the CNT-reinforced face sheets are obtained utilizing the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka approach, and the rule of mixture and the mechanical behavior of the SMA wires is modeled based on the Liang-Rogers constitutive law. The governing equations are solved numerically using the differential quadrature method (DQM) and the natural frequencies of the plates are calculated. To evaluate the accuracy of the results, a three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) is obtained using the ABAQUS package. The effects of various parameters on the natural frequencies are examined such as geometric parameters, material properties of SMA wires, and activation of SMA wires. It is concluded that activation of SMA wires dramatically increases the natural frequencies of the plate. Considering the increasing need for smart structures in several industries, the results of this research can be used in various industries, including mechanical, civil, and aerospace industries.