Thermally induced fracture analysis of CNT reinforced FG structures with multiple discontinuities using XIGA

[Display omitted] •XIGA is utilized first time for the fracture analysis of CNT reinforced FG structures with discontinuities.•To estimate the equivalent properties of CNT reinforced FGM-based composite using micromechanics models.•The fracture analysis of CNT-reinforced FG composite is performed under mechanical and thermo-mechanical load.•Modeling of discontinuities in CNT reinforced FG structure and then fracture analysis is performed.•To investigate the effect of hard and soft inclusions on the fracture behaviour. In this paper, the authors have employed XIGA to perform the fracture analysis of carbon nanotubes (CNT) reinforced functionally graded (FG) structures with discontinuities subjected to a coupled loading condition (thermo-mechanical load). For the first time, XIGA is used to analyse cracked CNT reinforced FG structures. The exponential rule is supposed to regulate the material property gradation in FG (which is made up of metal (Ti–6Al–4V) and ceramic (ZrO2)) structures. Several micromechanics models are utilized for evaluating the equivalent mechanical and thermal properties of CNTs (SWCNT and MWCNT) reinforced FG structure. To capture the discontinuity along the singular fields near the crack tip and the crack face, appropriate enrichment functions are used. Investigations are performed to estimate the effects of inclusions and holes on the SIFs of FG structures reinforced with CNT. Also, the effect of mechanical properties (Young’s modulus) of inclusion and percentage content of CNTs (SWCNT & MWCNT) on SIFs is explored. Furthermore, the authors have investigated the effect of different loading conditions on the SIFs.