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R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E
Advanced Science Letters
Vol. 4, 549553, 2011
On Gap Closure in a Double-Walled
Carbon Nanotube
Joel A. Storch
1
and Isaac Elishakoff
2
1
Department of Mathematics, Touro College, 8852 Pickford Street, Los Angeles, CA 90035, USA
2
Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991, USA
This study addresses the static deection of a double-walled carbon nanotube under uniform loading on the
outer tube. The tubes are modeled as Euler-Bernoulli beams coupled through van der Waals forces. It is shown
that under sufciently high loading, the surfaces of the inner and outer tubes will make contact. In the case of
linear deformations, a closed form solution is obtained for the beam deections and the critical load resulting in
contact is calculated. It is found that the beams will make contact at two distinct points along their span, but the
associated beam deections are outside the range of the linear beam theory. A nonlinear analysis accounting
for the stretching of the neutral axis of both beams is presented, and the critical load is calculated by solving
the deection equations by the Bubnov-Galerkin technique. In this case, the beams will make contact only
at their midpoints and both the critical load and deections are much less than those obtained in the linear
analysis.
Keywords: Carbon Nanotube, Static Deection, Bubnov-Galerkin, Euler-Bernoulli Beam.
1. INTRODUCTION
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) became the subject of much research
interest due to their exceptional mechanical, electrical and ther-
mal characteristics.
14
Ru
5
mentions, CNTs are only a few
nanometers in diameter, while as long as a few mm. Therefore,
the aspect ratio of CNTs is usually very large, up to 1000 or
beyond, although shorter CNTs of aspect ratio as small as 10 or
20 are also used in some cases. . . In all these cases, because there
are large numbers of atoms along the longitudinal direction, the
elastic rod or elastic beam model is adequate for overall mechan-
ical deformations of CNTs. The ranges of applicability of the
continuum beam model in the mechanics of carbon nanotubes
was investigated by Harik,
6
providing the beam model appli-
cability map. The use of continuum mechanics to estimate the
properties of nanotubes are elucidated in several references.
79
Natsuki and Endo
10
present a simulation of stressstrain behav-
ior of carbon nanotubes based on a continuum shell model. It
should be noted however, that continuum-level modeling in its
current form is still not sufcient to describe the properties of
nanocomposites.
11
Carbon nanotubes are frequently subjected to high pressures.
Wang et al.,
12
investigated the buckling multiwall carbon nano-
tubes under both external and internal pressure. In this study we

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

examine the static deections of simply supported double-walled
carbon nanotubes (DWCNT) with a pressure loading on the outer
tube. The following question is addressed: If the DWCNT is sub-
jected to a uniformly distributed loading, is it possible that the
inner and outer nanotubes touch each other? Within the linear
theory, the answer to this inquiry appears to be transparent: under
sufciently large loading the two nanotubes ought to touch each
other. To elucidate this titled problem, both linear and nonlinear
analyses are performed.
2. LINEAR ANALYSIS
The linear equations governing the static deection of a DWCNT
idealized as a pair of Euler-Bernoulli beams are given by
EI
1
J
4
n
1
Jx
4
=c
1
(n
2
n
1
)
EI
2
J
4
n
2
Jx
4
=c
1
(n
1
n
2
) +q(x)
(1)
where n
]
, EI
]
are the deection and bending stiffness respec-
tively of the ]th nanotube (] = 1 for the inner tube, ] = 2 for
the outer tube). The axial coordinate x lies in the interval [0, L]
where L denotes the beam lengths. The parameter c
1
is the van
der Waals interlayer interaction coefcient and q(x) is the exter-
nal load per unit length on the outer nanotube. Introducing the
Adv. Sci. Lett. Vol. 4, No. 2, 2011 1936-6612/2011/4/549/005 doi:10.1166/asl.2011.1238 549
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R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E Adv. Sci. Lett. 4, 549553, 2011
dimensionless axial coordinate ( = x,L, the set of Eq. (1) can
be expressed in the matrixvector form
J
4
w
J(
4
=Aw+f (() (2)
where w =(n
1
, n
2
)
T
, f (() =(0, L
4
,EI
2
q)
T
and the matrix A is
given by
A =c
1
L
4

1
EI
1
1
EI
1
1
EI
2

1
EI
2

The eigenvalues and corresponding eigenvectors of A are found

to be:
\
1
=0, v
1
=(1, 1)
T
\
2
=
c
1
L
4
(EI
1
+EI
2
)
EI
1
EI
2
, v
2
=(EI
2
, EI
1
)
T
Let P denote the matrix of eigenvectors, P |v
1
v
2
]. Introducing
the change in variables w =Pz in Eq. (2) and premultiplying by
P
1
, we obtain the uncoupled equations
J
4
z
1
J(
4
=
L
4
EI
1
+EI
2
q
J
4
z
2
J(
4
=\
2
z
2

L
4
EI
2
(EI
1
+EI
2
)
q
(3)
The above set of equations is valid for arbitrary loading q(()
and any set of boundary conditions. In the sequel, we will restrict
consideration to a uniform loading q and assume that both tubes
are simply supported at their end points. Solving the differential
equations, Eq. (3), subject to the boundary conditions z
]
(0) =
z
]
(1) =0 and z

]
(0) =z

]
(1) =0 (] =1, 2), we obtain
z
1
(() =
o
24
q((( 1)((
2
( 1)
z
2
(() =
pq
\
2

pq
s\
2

cos

2
(

cosh

2
(( 1)

(4)
+cosh

2
(

cos

2
(( 1)

where,
o =L
4
,(EI
1
+EI
2
), p =o,EI
2
, u =(\
2
)
1,4
,
s =cos(u,

2) +cosh(u,

2)
The actual beam deections are then given by
n
1
=z
1
(() +EI
2
z
2
(()
n
2
=z
1
(() EI
1
z
2
(()
(5)
We now investigate the possibility of the nanotubes making con-
tact under sufciently high loading. Dene the gap spacing G as
the distance between the outer wall of the inner nanotube and
the inner wall of the outer nanotube. In the undeformed state, the
gap spacing G
0
is given by
G
0
=r
2
r
1
o
0
(6)
where r
1
, r
2
are the mean radii of the inner and outer nanotubes
respectively, and o
0
denotes the common tube thickness. Since
Table I. Critical loading and contact point for a linear DWCNT.
L (nm) q
c
(nN/nm)
c
Max (w
2
/L)
14 5.23404 0.21726 0.42
16 5.23447 0.19016 0.63
18 5.23467 0.16900 0.89
20 5.23465 0.15210 1.23
24 5.23464 0.12675 2.12
26 5.23465 0.11700 2.69
28 5.23465 0.10864 3.37
30 5.23465 0.10140 4.14
the loading is applied to the outer tube , we will have n
2
> n
1
.
Thus the gap spacing in the deformed state is given by G =
G
0
n
2
+n
1
which can be expressed in the form (see Eq. (5))
G((, q) =G
0
+(EI
1
+EI
2
)z
2
((, q) (7)
In nding conditions under which the nanotubes make contact,
we have two unknowns: the point at which the tubes make con-
tact and the critical loading intensity. Recognizing that at the con-
tact point G assumes its minimum value, the governing equations
are G((, q) = 0 and oG,o( = 0. This system of transcendental
equations must be solved numerically.
Following Xu et al.,
13
we assume the numerical values E =
1 TPa, c
1
= 71.11 Gpa, r
1
= 0.35 nm, r
2
= 0.70 nm, and o
0
=
0.34 nm. The moment of inertia of the ]th nanotube is given
by the formula: I
]
= rr
]
o
0
(r
2
]
+o
2
0
,4). It follows that I
1
=
0.0566008 nm
4
and I
2
=0.387981 nm
4
. Table I shows the critical
loading q
c
and corresponding contact point (
c
for different values
of the length L. It is clear from the symmetry of the problem that
the tubes also make contact when ( = 1 (
c
. The last column
shows the ratio of the maximum deection of the outer tube to its
length at the critical loading. As the beam length increases, the
points of contact move toward its end points. It appears that the
critical loading is rather insensitive to the beam length. The num-
bers in the last column clearly show that the load level required
to enforce contact result in beam deections that are outside the
range of the linear Euler-Bernoulli beam theory.
Figure 1 shows the gap spacing along the nanotube for L =
14 nm at the critical loading. The gap function is tangent to
the horizontal axis at the two contact points, thus verifying the
numerical solution. It is important to mention that we have not
rigorously established the existence of a critical loading (zero of
the gap function); it has only been demonstrated numerically.
In preparation for the nonlinear analysis in the next section, we
solve the governing equations, Eq. (1), by the Bubnov-Galerkin
Fig. 1. Gap length between nanotubes at critical loading.
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R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E Adv. Sci. Lett. 4, 549553, 2011
method in order to get a rough estimate on the required number
of basis functions. Introducing the expansions
n
1
=
N

]=1
o
]
sin ]r(
n
2
=
N

]=1
l
]
sin ]r(
(8)
(which satisfy the simply supported boundary conditions) into
Eqs. (1), we nd the equation residuals
R
1
=
N

]=1
|(c
1
+EI
1
r
4
]
4
,L
4
)o
]
c
1
l
]
] sin ]r(
R
2
=
N

]=1
|(c
1
+EI
2
r
4
]
4
,L
4
)l
]
c
1
o
]
] sin ]r( q
(9)
Rendering the residuals orthogonal to the basis functions, we nd
o
k
=l
k
=0 for k =2, 4, 6, . . . and
o
k
=
4c
1
L
8
q
A
,l
k
=
4L
4
(c
1
L
4
+EI
1
r
4
k
4
)q
A
k=1,3,5,...
A=(kr)
5
|c
1
L
4
(EI
1
+EI
2
)+(kr)
4
EI
1
EI
2
]
(10)
The fact that o
k
=l
k
=0 for even values of k, could have been
anticipated since the beam deections must be symmetric with
respect to their midpoints. Figure 2 shows the deection of the
outer nanotube for L=14 nm and q =2 nN/nm. The exact solu-
tion is shown along with the Bubnov-Galerkin approximation for
N =1. The corresponding results for the inner nanotube are also
extremely close.
The Bubnov-Galerkin approximation to the gap function is
given by
G((,q)=G
0
+

](odd)
(o
]
l
]
)sin]r( (11)
It is obvious from the shape of the curve in Figure 1, that,
unlike the beam deections, retaining only a single term in the
above expansion is completely inadequate. Figure 3 shows a plot
of the gap function along the span of the nanotubes for L=
14 nm and q =2 nN/nm. The exact solution is shown along with
the Bubnov-Galerkin solution for N =2 and N =4. The question
as to how many terms one must retain in the Bubnov-Galerkin
expansion to obtain a good approximation to the gap function
Fig. 2. Exact and approximate nanotube deection.
Fig. 3. Linear Gap function convergence.
is beyond the scope of this investigation. This would depend
on how the error norm is dened. All our results are based on
brute-force numerical evaluation i.e., we truncate the series where
retaining the next term does not have a signicant impact on the
computed critical load.
3. NONLINEAR ANALYSIS
The results in the previous section clearly indicate that a non-
linear analysis is required when investigating the deformations
in the DWCNT under loadings sufciently high for contact.
In general, geometric nonlinearities in beams arise from either
(1) employing a nonlinear curvature-displacement relation or (2)
considering the stretching of the neutral axis of the beam. For
a beam with immovable ends, it is sufcient to consider only
the second type of nonlinearity.
14
Thus, we take the governing
equations to be of the form Refs. [15, 16]
EI
1
J
4
n
1
Jx
4

EA
1
2L

L
0

Jn
1
Jx

2
Jx
J
2
n
1
Jx
2
=c
1
(n
2
n
1
)
EI
2
J
4
n
2
Jx
4

EA
2
2L

L
0

Jn
2
Jx

2
Jx
J
2
n
2
Jx
2
=c
1
(n
1
n
2
)+q
(12)
where A
1
, A
2
are the cross sectional areas of the inner and outer
nanotubes respectively. Again, we assume both nanotubes are
simply supported at their (immovable) end points with a uni-
form loading per unit length, q, on the outer nanotube. We nd
an approximate solution to this set of nonlinear equations by
employing the Bubnov-Galerkin method. Inserting the expan-
sions (summing over odd values of ])
n
1
=

]
o
]
sin]r(
n
2
=

]
l
]
sin]r(
(13)
into Eq. (12), we obtain the equation residuals
R
1
=
1
L
4

c
1
L
4
+EI
1
r
4
]
4
+
r
4
4
EA
1

k
k
2
o
2
k

]
2

o
]
c
1
L
4
l
]

sin]r(
551
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R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E Adv. Sci. Lett. 4, 549553, 2011
Fig. 4. Nonlinear deection of outer nanotube.
R
2
=
1
L
4

c
1
L
4
+EI
2
r
4
]
4
+
r
4
4
EA
2

k
k
2
l
2
k

]
2

l
]
c
1
L
4
o
]

sin]r(q (14)
Rendering the residuals orthogonal to the basis function, we
obtain the set of simultaneous nonlinear equations

c
1
L
4
+EI
1
(ir)
4
+
r
4
4
EA
1

k
k
2
o
2
k

i
2

o
i
c
1
L
4
l
i
=0

c
1
L
4
+EI
2
(ir)
4
+
r
4
4
EA
2

k
k
2
l
2
k

i
2

l
i
c
1
L
4
o
i
=
4qL
4
ir
(15)
for i =1,3,5,... The solution of the associated linear equations
given by Eq. (10) provide initial approximations to the roots for
an iterative numerical solution. Figure 4 shows the deection
of the outer nanotube for L=14 nm and q =2 nN/nm (other
parameters as previously specied). For comparative purposes,
the deection curves are shown for the cases of 1 and 2 basis
functions. Retaining additional terms has virtually no affect on
the computed solution.
Fig. 5. Load-deection curve for nonlinear simply supported DWCNT.
Fig. 6. Nonlinear Gap function convergence (L=14 nm).
Figure 5 illustrates the variation of the nanotube deections
with the applied loading for L=14 nm. and 0q 5 nN/nm.
The maximum deection of each nanotube (which occurs at
its midpoint) has been normalized by the initial length. It is
observed that the deection curves rapidly become nonlinear and
(as expected) the deection of the outer nanotube exceeds that
of the inner one.
The gap spacing G is now given by the expression
G((,q)=G
0
n
2
((,q)+n
1
((,q) (16)
To estimate the number of terms that need to be retained in the
expansions (13) to accurately calculate the gap function, we have
plotted the gap function along the span of the nanotube for L=
14 nm and q =2 nN/nm (other parameters as previously speci-
ed). Figure 6 shows the gap function based on retaining 2,4 and
5 terms in the expansion. In contrast with the linear analysis (see
Fig. 3), the gap function now has a single minimum as opposed
to two (equal) minima. By symmetry arguments, this minimum
is assumed at the common beam midpoint (( =1,2). Unfortu-
nately, more terms need to be retained in the expansion as the
nanotube length increases. Since we will want to calculate the
critical loading at which the nanotubes will make contact, it is
crucial that the approximation to the gap function have zero slope
at ( =1,2 and does not exhibit oscillations in the neighborhood
of this point. This is illustrated in Figure 7 where we plot the
gap function for L=30 nm and q =2 nN/nm. To clearly see the
behavior of the gap function in the neighborhood of ( =1,2,
the plot was limited to the interval 0.3( 0.7. Approximately
Fig. 7. Nonlinear Gap function convergence (L=30 nm).
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Table II. Critical loading for a nonlinear DWCNT.
L (nm) q
c
(nN/nm) Max (w
2
/L)
14 2.5948 0.08
16 2.4216 0.09
18 2.3147 0.09
20 2.2487 0.09
24 2.1827 0.10
26 2.1671 0.10
28 2.1575 0.11
30 2.1514 0.12
20 terms need to be retained in the expansion to get a sufciently
smooth approximation.
To nd the critical load, we need to solve the equation
G(1,2,q)=0. Table II shows the solution q
c
for different values
of the tube length L (other parameters same as above). The third
column shows the ratio of the maximum deection of the outer
tube to its length at the critical loading. All calculations were
performed retaining 20 terms in the Bubnov-Galerkin expansion.
For the specic parameters chosen in this study, the critical load
now decreases with increasing beam length and the correspond-
ing maximum relative deection of the outer nanotube is signif-
icantly smaller than that predicted by the linear analysis.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The question of whether the inner and outer tubes of a simply
supported DWCNT can make contact for sufciently high load-
ing on the outer tube was investigated in this study. A linear
analysis shows that the tubes make contact at two distinct points
along their length (symmetrically located with respect to the mid-
point) while a nonlinear analysis, accounting for stretching of the
neutral axis, shows that the tubes make contact only at their mid-
points. The critical loads based on the nonlinear equations are
much lower than those obtained from the linear ones. Based on
the magnitudes of the beam deections, it is concluded that the
linear treatment is inadequate. It must be noted that the estimated
critical loads, even from the nonlinear analysis, may not be real-
izable in practice. If and when appropriate experimental results
become available, one can assess the accuracy of the predicted
critical loads presented in this study.
Acknowledgment: Isaac Elishakoff appreciates partial
nancial support by the J. M. Rubin Foundation at the Florida
Atlantic University. We wish to acknowledge Professor Michael
Link of the Gesamthochschule Wuppertal who posed the ques-
tion on surface contact between the inner and outer tubes of the
DWCNT to Isaac Elishakoff.
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Received: 25 March 2010. Accepted: 19 April 2010.
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