A New CNT-Oriented Shell Theory

A theory of linearly elastic orthotropic shells is presented, with potential application to the continuous modeling of Carbon NanoTubes. Two relevant features are: the selected type of orthotropic response, which should be suitable to capture differences in chirality; the possibility of accounting for thickness changes due to changes in inter-wall separation to be expected in multi-wall CNTs. A simpler version of the theory is also proposed, in which orthotropy is preserved but thickness changes are excluded, intended for possible application to single-wall CNTs. Another feature of both versions of the present theory is boundary-value problems of torsion, axial traction, uniform inner pressure, and rim flexure, can be solved explicitly in closed form. Various directions of ongoing further research are indicated.