Analytical solutions for thermal vibration of nanobeams with elastic boundary conditions

A nonlocal Euler beam model with second-order gradient of stress taken into consideration is used to study the thermal vibration of nanobeams with elastic boundary.An analytical solution is proposed to investigate the free vibration of nonlocal Euler beams subjected to axial thermal stress.The effects of the nonlocal parameter,thermal stress and stiffness of boundary constraint on the vibration behaviors of nanobeams are revealed.The results show that natural frequencies including the thermal stress are lower than those without the thermal stress when temperature rises.The boundary-constrained springs have significant effects on the vibration of nanobeams.In addition,numerical simulations also indicate the importance of small-scale effect on the vibration of nanobeams.     

TWO KINDS OF SCALE EFFECTS OF VIBRATION CHARACTERISTICS OF NANO-PLATE1)

利用非局部应变梯度理论研究了纳米板横向自由振动特性。通过迭代法获得非局部应力的渐近表达式,利用哈密顿变分原理推导了纳米板的振动控制方程。针对四边简支边界条件,运用双重三角级数法给出了板固有频率的表达式,然后研究了非局部参数、材料特征参数、几何尺寸对纳米板自振频率的影响。数值结果表明：非局部效应会弱化纳米板的等效刚度,因而使板的固有频率降低,应变梯度效应则与之相反,两类效应仅在纳米尺度下对自振频率有显著影响;板几何尺寸的改变也会对其振动频率产生重要影响。     

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.     

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.      

On the truth of nanoscale for nanobeams based on nonlocal elastic stress field theory： equilibrium, governing equation and static deflection

This paper has successfully addressed three critical but overlooked issues in nonlocal elastic stress field theory for nanobeams： （i） why does the presence of increasing nonlocal effects induce reduced nanostructural stiffness in many, but not consistently for all, cases of study, i.e., increasing static deflection, decreasing natural frequency and decreasing buckling load, although physical intuition according to the nonlocal elasticity field theory first established by Eringen tells otherwise？ （ii） the intriguing conclusion that nanoscale effects are missing in the solutions in many exemplary cases of study, e.g., bending deflection of a cantilever nanobeam with a point load at its tip; and （iii） the non-existence of additional higher-order boundary conditions for a higher-order governing differential equation. Applying the nonlocal elasticity field theory in nanomechanics and an exact variational principal approach, we derive the new equilibrium conditions, do- main governing differential equation and boundary conditions for bending of nanobeams. These equations and conditions involve essential higher-order differential terms which are opposite in sign with respect to the previously studies in the statics and dynamics of nonlocal nano-structures. The difference in higher-order terms results in reverse trends of nanoscale effects with respect to the conclusion of this paper. Effectively, this paper reports new equilibrium conditions, governing differential equation and boundary condi- tions and the true basic static responses for bending of nanobeams. It is also concluded that the widely accepted equilibrium conditions of nonlocal nanostructures are in fact not in equilibrium, but they can be made perfect should the nonlocal bending moment be replaced by an effective nonlocal bending moment. These conclusions are substantiated, in a general sense, by other approaches in nanostructural models such as strain gradient theory, modified couple stress models and experiments.     

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.     

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.     

Deep postbuckling and nonlinear bending behaviors of nanobeams with nonlocal and strain gradient effects

In this paper, multi-scale modeling for nanobeams with large deflection is conducted in the framework of the nonlocal strain gradient theory and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory with exact bending curvature. The proposed size-dependent nonlinear beam model incorporates structure-foundation interaction along with two small scale parameters which describe the stiffness-softening and stiffness-hardening size effects of nanomaterials, respectively. By applying Hamilton's principle, the motion equation and the associated boundary condition are derived. A two-step perturbation method is introduced to handle the deep postbuckling and nonlinear bending problems of nanobeams analytically. Afterwards, the influence of geometrical, material, and elastic foundation parameters on the nonlinear mechanical behaviors of nanobeams is discussed. Numerical results show that the stability and precision of the perturbation solutions can be guaranteed, and the two types of size effects become increasingly important as the slenderness ratio increases. Moreover, the in-plane conditions and the high-order nonlinear terms appearing in the bending curvature expression play an important role in the nonlinear behaviors of nanobeams as the maximum deflection increases.     

纳米圆轴在弹性介质中的扭转振动分析

基于非局部应变梯度理论,考虑周围弹性介质的影响,研究纳米圆轴的扭转自由振动。首先通过Hamilton原理推导纳米圆轴扭转振动的控制方程及边界条件,接着采用微分求积法得到控制方程及三类边界条件的离散形式,最后由数值计算结果分析扭转振动特性。讨论了两个小尺度参数和弹性介质刚度的变化对振动频率的影响,并通过小尺度参数比对振动频率的影响分析两个尺度参数的耦合作用。研究结果表明,扭转自由振动频率随非局部参数增加而减小,随应变梯度尺度参数、弹性介质刚度增加而增大;当非局部参数大于应变梯度尺度参数时,小尺度效应体现为非局部效应,相反则体现为应变梯度效应。     

Isogeometric nonlocal strain gradient quasi-three-dimensional plate model for thermal postbuckling of porous functionally graded microplates with central cutout with different shapes

This study presents the size-dependent nonlinear thermal postbuckling characteristics of a porous functionally graded material(PFGM) microplate with a central cutout with various shapes using isogeometric numerical technique incorporating nonuniform rational B-splines. To construct the proposed non-classical plate model, the nonlocal strain gradient continuum elasticity is adopted on the basis of a hybrid quasithree-dimensional(3D) plate theory under through-thickness deformation conditions by only four variables. By taking a refined power-law function into account in conjunction with the Touloukian scheme, the temperature-porosity-dependent material properties are extracted. With the aid of the assembled isogeometric-based finite element formulations,nonlocal strain gradient thermal postbuckling curves are acquired for various boundary conditions as well as geometrical and material parameters. It is portrayed that for both size dependency types, by going deeper in the thermal postbuckling domain, gaps among equilibrium curves associated with various small scale parameter values get lower, which indicates that the pronounce of size effects reduces by going deeper in the thermal postbuckling regime. Moreover, we observe that the central cutout effect on the temperature rise associated with the thermal postbuckling behavior in the presence of the effect of strain gradient size and absence of nonlocality is stronger compared with the case including nonlocality in absence of the strain gradient small scale effect.     

Theoretical analysis on elastic buckling of nanobeams based on stress-driven nonlocal integral model

Several studies indicate that Eringen's nonlocal model may lead to some inconsistencies for both Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beams, such as cantilever beams subjected to an end point force and fixed-fixed beams subjected a uniform distributed load. In this paper, the elastic buckling behavior of nanobeams, including both EulerBernoulli and Timoshenko beams, is investigated on the basis of a stress-driven nonlocal integral model. The constitutive equations are the Fredholm-type integral equations of the first kind, which can be transformed to the Volterra integral equations of the first kind. With the application of the Laplace transformation, the general solutions of the deflections and bending moments for the Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beams as well as the rotation and shear force for the Timoshenko beams are obtained explicitly with several unknown constants. Considering the boundary conditions and extra constitutive constraints, the characteristic equations are obtained explicitly for the Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beams under different boundary conditions, from which one can determine the critical buckling loads of nanobeams. The effects of the nonlocal parameters and buckling order on the buckling loads of nanobeams are studied numerically, and a consistent toughening effect is obtained.     

Thermal Buckling Analysis of Size-Dependent FG Nanobeams Based on the Third-Order Shear Deformation Beam Theory

In this paper,the thermal effects on the buckling of functionally graded(FG) nanobeams subjected to various types of thermal loading including uniform,linear and non-linear temperature changes are investigated based on the nonlocal third-order shear deformation beam theory.The material properties of FG nanobeam are supposed to vary gradually along the thickness direction according to the power-law form.The governing equations are derived through Hamilton's principle and solved analytically.Comparison examples are performed to verify the present results.Obtained results are presented for thermal buckling analysis of FG nanobeams such as the effects of the power-law index,nonlocal parameter,slenderness ratio and thermal loading in detail.     

Nonlocal Thermo-Electro-Mechanical coupling vibrations of axially moving piezoelectric nanobeams

This work is concerned with the thermo-electro-mechanical coupling transverse vibrations of axially moving piezoelectric nanobeams which reveal potential applications in self-powered components of biomedical nano-robot. The nonlocal theory and Euler piezoelectric beam model are employed to develop the governing partial differential equations of the mathematical model for axially moving piezoelectric nanobeams. The natural frequencies of nanobeams under simply supported and fully clamped boundary constraints are numerically determined based on the eigenvalue method. Subsequently, some detailed parametric studies are presented and it is shown that the nonlocal nanoscale effect and axial motion effect contribute to reduce the bending rigidity of axially moving piezoelectric nanobeam and hence its natural frequency decreases within the framework of nonlocal elasticity. Moreover, the natural frequency decreases with increasing the positive external voltage, axial compressive force and change of temperature, while increases with increasing the axial tensile force. The critical speed and critical axial compressive force are determined and the dynamical buckling behaviors of axially moving piezoelectric nanobeams are indicated. It is concluded the nonlocal nanoscale parameter plays a remarkable role in the size-dependent natural frequency, critical speed and critical axial compressive force.     

A NONLINEAR MICROBEAM MODEL BASED ON STRAIN GRADIENT ELASTICITY THEORY

A micro scale nonlinear beam model based on strain gradient elasticity is developed.Governing equations of motion and boundary conditions are obtained in a variational framework.As an example,the nonlinear vibration of microbeams is analyzed.In a beam having a thickness to length parameter ratio close to unity,the strain gradient effect on increasing the natural frequency is predominant.By increasing the beam thickness,this effect decreases and geometric nonlinearity plays the main role on increasing the natural frequency.For some specific ratios,both geometric nonlinearity and size effects have a significant role on increasing the natural frequency.     

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.     

Formulation of strain gradient plasticity with interface energy in a consistent thermodynamic framework

In this work, the strain gradient formulation is used within the context of the thermodynamic principle, internal state variables, and thermodynamic and dissipation potentials. These in turn provide balance of momentum, boundary conditions, yield condition and flow rule, and free energy and dissipative energies. This new formulation contributes to the following important related issues: (i) the effects of interface energy that are incorporated into the formulation to address various boundary conditions, strengthening and formation of the boundary layers, (ii) nonlocal temperature effects that are crucial, for instance, for simulating the behavior of high speed machining for metallic materials using the strain gradient plasticity models, (iii) a new form of the nonlocal flow rule, (iv) physical bases of the length scale parameter and its identification using nano-indentation experiments and (v) a wide range of applications of the theory. Applications to thin films on thick substrates for various loading conditions and torsion of thin wires are investigated here along with the appropriate length scale effect on the behavior of these structures. Numerical issues of the theory are discussed and results are obtained using Matlab and Mathematica for the nonlinear ordinary differential equations (NODE) which constitute the boundary value problem.This study reveals that the micro-stress term has an important effect on the development of the boundary layers and hardening of the material at both hard and soft interface boundary conditions in thin films. The interface boundary conditions are described by the interfacial length scale and interfacial strength parameters. These parameters are important to control the size effect and hardening of the material. For more complex geometries the generalized form of the boundary value problem using the nonlocal finite element formulation is required to address the problems involved.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

基于应变梯度有限元的单层石墨烯振动研究

建立了单层石墨烯等效非局部薄板的一种新的有限元模型,并运用有限元法分析不同边界条件下单层石墨烯振动的小尺度效应。给出了基于弹性应变梯度理论下Kirchhoff板的振动方程。发展了一种4节点24自由度的板单元,用于离散化求解考虑微纳结构尺度效应的高阶微分方程。在研究四边简支板振动时,考虑应变梯度的非局部弹性有限元数值计算结果与理论分析结果相一致。用有限元方法研究了不同尺寸、振动波长、振动模态阶数、边界条件类型以及非局部参数的单层石墨烯振动。