ON THE BENDING AND TORSION OF CARBON NANOTUBES ROPES
V. CHIROIU, L. MUNTEANU, V. P. PAUN, P. P.TEODORESCU

Abstract. This paper presents some results concerning the applicability of carbon nanotubes to the space elevator concept. After the development of carbon nanotubes in the 1990s, the high strength of these materials made the concept of an orbital skyhook feasible. A coupled atomistic-continuum theory for escribing the bending and torsion of ropes made from single-walled carbon nanotubes is proposed in this article. The model couples a region described with full atomistic detail to a surrounding region modeled with the continuum concepts. The shifted Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind and a generalization of Vekua and Nikagadze methods are performed on the base of a nonclassical parametrization of the transition region.