A higher-order nonlocal elasticity and strain gradient theory and its applications in wave propagation

In recent years there have been many papers that considered the effects of material length scales in the study of mechanics of solids at micro- and/or nano-scales. There are a number of approaches and, among them, one set of papers deals with Eringen's differential nonlocal model and another deals with the strain gradient theories. The modified couple stress theory, which also accounts for a material length scale, is a form of a strain gradient theory. The large body of literature that has come into existence in the last several years has created significant confusion among researchers about the length scales that these various theories contain. The present paper has the objective of establishing the fact that the length scales present in nonlocal elasticity and strain gradient theory describe two entirely different physical characteristics of materials and structures at nanoscale. By using two principle kernel functions, the paper further presents a theory with application examples which relates the classical nonlocal elasticity and strain gradient theory and it results in a higher-order nonlocal strain gradient theory. In this theory, a higher-order nonlocal strain gradient elasticity system which considers higher-order stress gradients and strain gradient nonlocality is proposed. It is based on the nonlocal effects of the strain field and first gradient strain field. This theory intends to generalize the classical nonlocal elasticity theory by introducing a higher-order strain tensor with nonlocality into the stored energy function. The theory is distinctive because the classical nonlocal stress theory does not include nonlocality of higher-order stresses while the common strain gradient theory only considers local higher-order strain gradients without nonlocal effects in a global sense. By establishing the constitutive relation within the thermodynamic framework, the governing equations of equilibrium and all boundary conditions are derived via the variational approach. Two additional kinds of parameters, the higher-order nonlocal parameters and the nonlocal gradient length coefficients are introduced to account for the size-dependent characteristics of nonlocal gradient materials at nanoscale. To illustrate its application values, the theory is applied for wave propagation in a nonlocal strain gradient system and the new dispersion relations derived are presented through examples for wave propagating in Euler–Bernoulli and Timoshenko nanobeams. The numerical results based on the new nonlocal strain gradient theory reveal some new findings with respect to lattice dynamics and wave propagation experiment that could not be matched by both the classical nonlocal stress model and the contemporary strain gradient theory. Thus, this higher-order nonlocal strain gradient model provides an explanation to some observations in the classical and nonlocal stress theories as well as the strain gradient theory in these aspects.     

A nonlocal strain gradient shell model incorporating surface effects for vibration analysis of functionally graded cylindrical nanoshells

In this paper, a novel size-dependent functionally graded(FG) cylindrical shell model is developed based on the nonlocal strain gradient theory in conjunction with the Gurtin-Murdoch surface elasticity theory. The new model containing a nonlocal parameter, a material length scale parameter, and several surface elastic constants can capture three typical types of size effects simultaneously, which are the nonlocal stress effect, the strain gradient effect, and the surface energy effects. With the help of Hamilton's principle and first-order shear deformation theory, the non-classical governing equations and related boundary conditions are derived. By using the proposed model, the free vibration problem of FG cylindrical nanoshells with material properties varying continuously through the thickness according to a power-law distribution is analytically solved, and the closed-form solutions for natural frequencies under various boundary conditions are obtained. After verifying the reliability of the proposed model and analytical method by comparing the degenerated results with those available in the literature, the influences of nonlocal parameter, material length scale parameter, power-law index, radius-to-thickness ratio, length-to-radius ratio, and surface effects on the vibration characteristic of functionally graded cylindrical nanoshells are examined in detail.     

能量非局部模型和新的应变梯度理论

提出一种新的基于能量非局部模型的应变梯度理论,并应用此理论对多晶铜以及薄膜基底的微压痕硬度进行理论预测和数值分析. 首先,提出了能量非局部模型,并由此模型,得出新应变梯度理论的本构关系;其次,由变分原理,得出相应的有限元公式;再次,给出了微压痕硬度的有限元分析方法;最后,将该理论预测结果与经典理论预测结果以及实验结果进行了对比. 结果表明,计算结果与实验结果相符;而经典理论的预测结果远低于实验结果.      

TWISTING STATICS AND DYNAMICS FOR CIRCULAR ELASTIC NANOSOLIDS BY NONLOCAL ELASTICITY THEORY

The torsional static and dynamic behaviors of circular nanosolids such as nanoshafts, nanorods and nanotubes are established based on a new nonlocal elastic stress field theory. Based on a new expression for strain energy with a nonlocal nanoscale parameter, new higher-order governing equations and the corresponding boundary conditions are first derived here via the variational principle because the classical equilibrium conditions and/or equations of motion can- not be directly applied to nonlocal nanostructures even if the stress and moment quantities are replaced by the corresponding nonlocal quantities. The static twist and torsional vibration of circular, nonlocal nanosolids are solved and discussed in detail. A comparison of the conventional and new nonlocal models is also presented for a fully fixed nanosolid, where a lower-order governing equation and reduced stiffness are found in the conventional model while the new model reports opposite solutions. Analytical solutions and numerical examples based on the new nonlocal stress theory demonstrate that nonlocal stress enhances stiffness of nanosolids, i.e. the angular displacement decreases with the increasing nonlocal nanoscale while the natural frequency increases with the increasing nonlocal nanoscale.     

Nonlocal gradient-dependent modeling of plasticity with anisotropic hardening

This work addresses the formulation of the thermodynamics of nonlocal plasticity using the gradient theory. The formulation is based on the nonlocality energy residual introduced by Eringen and Edelen (1972). Gradients are introduced for those variables associated with isotropic and kinematic hardening. The formulation applies to small strain gradient plasticity and makes use of the evanescent memory model for kinematic hardening. This is accomplished using the kinematic flux evolution as developed by Zbib and Aifantis (1988). Therefore, the present theory is a four nonlocal parameter-based theory that accounts for the influence of large variations in the plastic strain, accumulated plastic strain, accumulated plastic strain gradients, and the micromechanical evolution of the kinematic flux. Using the principle of virtual power and the laws of thermodynamics, thermodynamically-consistent equations are derived for the nonlocal plasticity yield criterion and associated flow rule. The presence of higher-order gradients in the plastic strain is shown to enhance a corresponding history variable which arises from the accumulation of the plastic strain gradients. Furthermore, anisotropy is introduced by plastic strain gradients in the form of kinematic hardening. Plastic strain gradients can be attributed to the net Burgers vector, while gradients in the accumulation of plastic strain are responsible for the introduction of isotropic hardening. The equilibrium between internal Cauchy stress and the microstresses conjugate to the higher-order gradients frames the yield criterion, which is obtained from the principle of virtual power. Microscopic boundary conditions, associated with plastic flow, are introduced to supplement the macroscopic boundary conditions of classical plasticity. The nonlocal formulation developed here preserves the classical assumption of local plasticity, wherein plastic flow direction is governed by the deviatoric Cauchy stress. The theory is applied to the problems of thin films on both soft and hard substrates. Numerical solutions are presented for bi-axial tension and simple shear loading of thin films on substrates.     

Stress gradient versus strain gradient constitutive models within elasticity

A stress gradient elasticity theory is developed which is based on the Eringen method to address nonlocal elasticity by means of differential equations. By suitable thermodynamics arguments (involving the free enthalpy instead of the free internal energy), the restrictions on the related constitutive equations are determined, which include the well-known Eringen stress gradient constitutive equations, as well as the associated (so far uncertain) boundary conditions. The proposed theory exhibits complementary characters with respect to the analogous strain gradient elasticity theory. The associated boundary-value problem is shown to admit a unique solution characterized by a Hellinger–Reissner type variational principle. The main differences between the Eringen stress gradient model and the concomitant Aifantis strain gradient model are pointed out. A rigorous formulation of the stress gradient Euler–Bernoulli beam is provided; the response of this beam model is discussed as for its sensitivity to the stress gradient effects and compared with the analogous strain gradient beam model.     

A new nonlocal bending model for Euler–Bernoulli nanobeams

This paper is concerned with the bending problem of nanobeams starting from a nonlocal thermodynamic approach. A new coupled nonlocal model, depending on two nonlocal parameters, is obtained by using a suitable definition of the free energy. Unlike previous approaches which directly substitute the expression of the nonlocal stress into the classical equilibrium equations, the proposed approach provides a methodology to recover nonlocal models starting from the free energy function. The coupled model can then be specialized to obtain a nanobeam formulation based on the Eringen nonlocal elasticity theory and on the gradient elastic model. The variational formulations are consistently provided and the differential equations with the related boundary conditions are thus derived. Nanocantilevers are solved in a closed-form and numerical results are presented to investigate the influence of the nonlocal parameters.     

Nonlocal strain gradient beam model for nonlinear secondary resonance analysis of functionally graded porous micro/nano-beams under periodic hard excitations

Abstract

Functionally graded porous materials (FGPMs) have a wide range of applications as hollow members in biomedical and aeronautical engineering. In the FGPMs, the porosity is varied over the material volume because of the density change of pores. In the present work, an analytical treatment on the size-dependent nonlinear secondary resonance of FGPM micro/nano-beams subjected to periodic hard excitations is proposed in the simultaneous presence of the nonlocality and strain gradient size dependencies. Based upon the closed-cell Gaussian-random field scheme, the mechanical properties of the FGPM micro/nano-beams are extracted corresponding to the uniform and three different functionally graded patterns of the porosity dispersion. The nonlocal strain gradient theory of elasticity is applied to the classical beam theory to formulate a newly combined size-dependent beam model. Thereafter, an analytical solving methodology based on the multiple time-scales together with the Galerkin technique is adopted to achieve the nonlocal strain gradient frequency–response and amplitude–response curves associated with the subharmonic and superharmonic external excitations. For the subharmonic excitation, it is observed that the nonlocality causes to shift the junction point of the stable and unstable branches to the higher value of the detuning parameter. However, the strain gradient size dependency plays an opposite role. For the superharmonic one, it is illustrated that the nonlocal size effect makes an increment in the height of jump phenomenon and shifts the peak to higher value of the detuning parameter. However, the strain gradient small scale effect leads to decrease the height of the jump phenomenon and shifts the peak to lower value of the detuning parameter.     

Small scale effects on buckling and postbuckling behaviors of axially loaded FGM nanoshells based on nonlocal strain gradient elasticity theory

By means of a comprehensive theory of elasticity, namely, a nonlocal strain gradient continuum theory, size-dependent nonlinear axial instability characteristics of cylindrical nanoshells made of functionally graded material (FGM) are examined. To take small scale effects into consideration in a more accurate way, a nonlocal stress field parameter and an internal length scale parameter are incorporated simultaneously into an exponential shear deformation shell theory. The variation of material properties associated with FGM nanoshells is supposed along the shell thickness, and it is modeled based on the Mori-Tanaka homogenization scheme. With a boundary layer theory of shell buckling and a perturbation-based solving process, the nonlocal strain gradient load-deflection and load-shortening stability paths are derived explicitly. It is observed that the strain gradient size effect causes to the increases of both the critical axial buckling load and the width of snap-through phenomenon related to the postbuckling regime, while the nonlocal size dependency leads to the decreases of them. Moreover, the influence of the nonlocal type of small scale effect on the axial instability characteristics of FGM nanoshells is more than that of the strain gradient one.     

Damped vibration of a graphene sheet using a higher-order nonlocal strain-gradient Kirchhoff plate model

A higher-order nonlocal strain-gradient model is presented for the damped vibration analysis of single-layer graphene sheets (SLGSs) in hygrothermal environment. Based on Kirchhoff plate theory in conjunction with a higher-order (bi-Helmholtz) nonlocal strain gradient theory, the equations of motion are obtained using Hamilton's principle. The higher-order nonlocal strain gradient theory has lower- and higher-order nonlocal parameters and a material characteristic parameter. The presented model can reasonably interpret the softening effects of the SLGS, and indicates a reasonably good match with the experimental flexural frequencies. Finally, the roles of viscous and structural damping coefficients, small-scale parameters, hygrothermal environment and elastic foundation on the vibrational responses of SLGSs are studied in detail.     

Analytical solutions for buckling of size-dependent Timoshenko beams

The inconsistences of the higher-order shear resultant expressed in terms of displacement(s) and the complete boundary value problems of structures modeled by the nonlocal strain gradient theory have not been well addressed. This paper develops a size-dependent Timoshenko beam model that considers both the nonlocal effect and strain gradient effect. The variationally consistent boundary conditions corresponding to the equations of motion of Timoshenko beams are reformulated with the aid of the weighted residual method. The complete boundary value problems of nonlocal strain gradient Timoshenko beams undergoing buckling are solved in closed forms. All the possible higher-order boundary conditions induced by the strain gradient are selectively suggested based on the fact that the buckling loads increase with the increasing aspect ratios of beams from the conventional mechanics point of view. Then, motivated by the expression for beams with simply-supported(SS) boundary conditions, some semiempirical formulae are obtained by curve fitting procedures.     

Free vibration of thermo-elastic microplate based on spatiotemporal fractional-order derivatives with nonlocal characteristic length and time

A fractional-order thermo-elastic model taking into account the small-scale effects of the thermo-elastic coupled behavior is developed to study the free vibration of a higher-order shear microplate. The nonlocal strain gradient theory is modified with the introduction of the fractional-order derivatives and the nonlocal characteristic length. The Fourier heat conduction is replaced by the non-Fourier heat conduction with the introduction of the fractional order and the memory characteristic tim...     

基于应变梯度中厚板单元的石墨烯振动研究

基于应变梯度理论建立了单层石墨烯等效明德林(Mindlin) 板动力学方程,推导了四边简支明德林中厚板自由振动固有频率的解析解. 提出了一种考虑应变梯度的4 节点36 自由度明德林板单元,利用虚功原理建立了单层石墨烯的等效非局部板有限元模型. 通过对石墨烯振动问题的研究,验证了应变梯度有限元计算结果的收敛性. 运用该有限元法研究了尺寸、振动模态阶数以及非局部参数对石墨烯振动特性的影响. 研究表明,这种单元能够较好地适用于研究考虑复杂边界条件石墨烯的尺度效应问题. 基于应变梯度理论的明德林板所获得石墨烯的固有频率小于基于经典明德林板理论得到的结果. 尺寸较小、模态阶数较高的石墨烯振动尺度效应更加明显. 无论采用应变梯度理论还是经典弹性本构关系,考虑一阶剪切变形的明德林板模型预测的固有频率低于基尔霍夫(Kirchho) 板所预测的固有频率.      

INVESTIGATIONS ON THE MECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NANOBEAMS BASED ON THE NONLOCAL STRAIN GRADIENT THEORY1)

基于非局部应变梯度理论,建立了一种具有尺度效应的高阶剪切变形纳米梁的力学模型. 其中,考虑了应变场和一阶应变梯度场下的非局部效应. 采用哈密顿原理推导了纳米梁的控制方程和边界条件,并给出了简支边界条件下静弯曲、自由振动和线性屈曲问题的纳维级数解. 数值结果表明,非局部效应对梁的刚度产生软化作用,应变梯度效应对纳米梁的刚度产生硬化作用,梁的刚度整体呈现软化还是硬化效应依赖于非局部参数与材料特征尺度的比值. 梁的厚度与材料特征尺度越接近,非局部应变梯度理论与经典弹性理论所预测结果之间的差异越显著.     

Vibration analysis of piezoelectric sandwich nanobeam with flexoelectricity based on nonlocal strain gradient theory

A nonlocal strain gradient theory(NSGT) accounts for not only the nongradient nonlocal elastic stress but also the nonlocality of higher-order strain gradients,which makes it benefit from both hardening and softening effects in small-scale structures.In this study, based on the NSGT, an analytical model for the vibration behavior of a piezoelectric sandwich nanobeam is developed with consideration of flexoelectricity. The sandwich nanobeam consists of two piezoelectric sheets and a non-piezoelectric core. The governing equation of vibration of the sandwich beam is obtained by the Hamiltonian principle. The natural vibration frequency of the nanobeam is calculated for the simply supported(SS) boundary, the clamped-clamped(CC) boundary, the clamped-free(CF)boundary, and the clamped-simply supported(CS) boundary. The effects of geometric dimensions, length scale parameters, nonlocal parameters, piezoelectric constants, as well as the flexoelectric constants are discussed. The results demonstrate that both the flexoelectric and piezoelectric constants enhance the vibration frequency of the nanobeam.The nonlocal stress decreases the natural vibration frequency, while the strain gradient increases the natural vibration frequency. The natural vibration frequency based on the NSGT can be increased or decreased, depending on the value of the nonlocal parameter to length scale parameter ratio.     

Dislocations in second strain gradient elasticity

A second strain gradient elasticity theory is proposed based on first and second gradients of the strain tensor. Such a theory is an extension of first strain gradient elasticity with double stresses. In particular, the strain energy depends on the strain tensor and on the first and second gradient terms of it. Using a simplified but straightforward version of this gradient theory, we can connect it with a static version of Eringen’s nonlocal elasticity. For the first time, it is used to study a screw dislocation and an edge dislocation in second strain gradient elasticity. By means of this second gradient theory it is possible to eliminate both strain and stress singularities. Another important result is that we obtain nonsingular expressions for the force stresses, double stresses and triple stresses produced by a straight screw dislocation and a straight edge dislocation. The components of the force stresses and of the triple stresses have maximum values near the dislocation line and are zero there. On the other hand, the double stresses have maximum values at the dislocation line. The main feature is that it is possible to eliminate all unphysical singularities of physical fields, e.g., dislocation density tensor and elastic bend-twist tensor which are still singular in the first strain gradient elasticity.     

An asymmetric theory of nonlocal elasticity—Part 1. Quasicontinuum theory

In this article, an asymmetric theory of nonlocal elasticity is developed on the basis of three dimensional atomic lattice model, the Galileo invariance for constitutive equations and by use of Fourier transformation of generalized function and energy method. It is shown that nonlocal characteristic functions (or constitutive parameters of internal elastic energy) can be explicitly expressed in terms of interacting forces connecting atoms, and the general model of nonlocal theory with rotation effects is asymmetric. Both symmetric stress and anti-symmetric stress is a nonlocal function of strain and local rotation for anisotropic materials. For isotropic materials, symmetric stress is only a nonlocal function of strain, while antisymmetric stress is only a nonlocal function of local rotation.     

Nonlinear wave propagation analysis in Timoshenko nano-beams considering nonlocal and strain gradient effects

This article is aimed to investigate the geometrically nonlinear wave propagation of nano-beams on the basis of the most comprehensive size-dependent elasticity theory. To this end, the integral model of nonlocal elasticity theory in the most general form without any simplification in conjunction with the modified strain gradient theory is implemented in the analysis. Also, the Timoshenko beam model is utilized in the presented nonlocal strain gradient elasticity theory. By Hamilton’s principle, the governing integro-partial differential equations of motion are derived. Employing numerical integration and an efficient method called as periodic grid technique, a semi-analytical approach is presented for the solution procedure. To detect the impacts of nonlocality and small scale effects on the nonlinear wave propagation characteristics of beams at nanoscale, adequate numerical examples and comparison studies are presented.     

Computational modeling of size-dependent superelasticity of shape memory alloys

We propose a nonlocal continuum model to describe the size-dependent superelastic responses observed in recent experiments of shape memory alloys. The modeling approach extends a superelasticity formulation based on the martensitic volume fraction, and combines it with gradient plasticity theories. Size effects are incorporated through two internal length scales, an energetic length scale and a dissipative length scale, which correspond to the gradient terms in the free energy and the dissipation, respectively. We also propose a computational framework based on a variational formulation to solve the coupled governing equations resulting from the nonlocal superelastic model. Within this framework, a robust and scalable algorithm is implemented for large scale three-dimensional problems. A numerical study of the grain boundary constraint effect shows that the model is able to capture the size-dependent stress hysteresis and strain hardening during the loading and unloading cycles in polycrystalline SMAs.     

Nonlocal and gradient rate plasticity

This paper deals with a formulation of nonlocal and gradient plasticity with internal variables. The constitutive model complies with local internal variables which govern kinematic hardening and isotropic softening and with a nonlocal corrective internal variable defined either as the sum between a new internal variable and its spatial weighted average or as the gradient of a measure of plastic strain. The rate constitutive problem is cast in the framework provided by the convex analysis and the potential theory for monotone multivalued operators which provide the suitable tools to perform a theoretical analysis of such nonlocal and gradient problems. The validity of the maximum dissipation theorem is assessed and constitutive variational formulations of the rate model are provided. The structural rate problem for an assigned load rate is then formulated. The related variational formulation in the complete set of state variable is contributed and the methodology to derive variational formulations, with different combinations of the state variables, is explicitly provided. In particular the generalization to the present nonlocal and gradient model of the principles of Prager–Hodge, Greenberg and Capurso–Maier is presented. Finally nonlocal variational formulations provided in the literature are derived as special cases of the proposed model.