Geometrically nonlinear thermo-mechanical analysis of graphene-reinforced moving polymer nanoplates

The main target of this study is to investigate nonlinear transient responses of moving polymer nano-size plates fortified by means of Graphene Platelets (GPLs) and resting on a Winkler-Pasternak foundation under a transverse pressure force and a temperature variation. Two graphene spreading forms dispersed through the plate thickness are studied, and the Halpin-Tsai micro-mechanics model is used to obtain the effective Young’s modulus. Furthermore, the rule of mixture is employed to calculate the effective mass density and Poisson’s ratio. In accordance with the first order shear deformation and von Karman theory for nonlinear systems, the kinematic equations are derived, and then nonlocal strain gradient scheme is used to reflect the effects of nonlocal and strain gradient parameters on small-size objects. Afterwards, a combined approach, kinetic dynamic relaxation method accompanied by Newmark technique, is hired for solving the time-varying equation sets, and Fortran program is developed to generate the numerical results. The accuracy of the current model is verified by comparative studies with available results in the literature. Finally, a parametric study is carried out to explore the effects of GPL’s weight fractions and dispersion patterns, edge conditions, softening and hardening factors, the temperature change, the velocity of moving nanoplate and elastic foundation stiffness on the dynamic response of the structure. The result illustrates that the effects of nonlocality and strain gradient parameters are more remarkable in the higher magnitudes of the nanoplate speed.