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. 
Antonino Favata and Paolo Podio-Guidugli
math-ph math.MP