Thermal stability analysis of temperature dependent inhomogeneous size-dependent nano-scale beams

Abstract

Thermal bifurcation buckling behavior of fully clamped Euler-Bernoulli nanobeam built of a through thickness functionally graded material is explored for the first time in the present paper. The variation of material properties of the FG nanobeam are graded along the thickness by a power-law form. Temperature dependency of the material constituents is also taken into consideration. Eringen\'s nonlocal elasticity model is employed to define the small-scale effects and long-range connections between the particles. The stability equations of the thermally induced FG nanobeam are derived via the principal of the minimum total potential energy and solved analytically for clamped boundary conditions, which lead for more accurate results. Moreover, the obtained buckling loads of FG nanobeam are validated with those existing works. Parametric studies are performed to examine the influences of various parameters such as power-law exponent, small scale effects and beam thickness on the critical thermal buckling load of the temperature-dependent FG nanobeams.