Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures

ISSN: 1537-6494 (Print) 1537-6532 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/umcm20

Nonlocal and surface effects on the buckling

behavior of flexoelectric sandwich nanobeams

Farzad Ebrahimi & Mahsa Karimiasl

To cite this article: Farzad Ebrahimi & Mahsa Karimiasl (2017): Nonlocal and surface effects on
the buckling behavior of flexoelectric sandwich nanobeams, Mechanics of Advanced Materials and
Structures, DOI: 10.1080/15376494.2017.1329468

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15376494.2017.1329468

Accepted author version posted online: 01

Jun 2017.

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Nonlocal and surface effects on the buckling behavior of flexoelectric sandwich nanobeams

Farzad Ebrahimi and Mahsa Karimiasl

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Imam Khomeini International

University, Qazvin, Iran

CONTACT Farzad Ebrahimi, febrahimy@eng.ikiu.ac.ir, Department of Mechanical

Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran.

Color versions of one or more figures in this article are available online at

www.tandfonline.com/umcm.

Abstract

In this article, an analytical approach is presented to study the surface and flexoelectric effects on

the buckling characteristics of an embedded piezoelectric sandwich nanobeam. According to the

nonlocal elasticity theory, the flexoelectricity is believed to be authentic for size-dependent

properties in nanostructures. The boundary conditions and the governing equations are derived

by Hamilton’s principle and are solved by Navier method. The results obtained from the present

work shows that the nonlocal term has an important reduction on the critical load and also the

flexoelectricity shows an increasing influence on the buckling loads of the sandwich nanobeam

especially at lower thicknesses.

Keywords

buckling, piezoelectric sandwich nanobeam, flexoelectricity, Surface effect, Nonlocal elasticity

theory

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1. Introduction

Nanostructures are capable to buckling when they are confronted to in-plane compressive forces.

References according to buckling can be categorized into two levels: the first deal with the linear

buckling problem and the second with the nonlinear buckling problem. Within the linear

buckling analysis, the important result is to find the critical buckling loads and the conducted

mode shapes. Besides piezoelectric nanostructures have attracted interests in research

communities for their potential applications as transistors, sensors, and energy harvesters in the

nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) due to their high electromechanical coupling and

unique features at the nano-scale (Wang et.al 2006; Ebrahimi and Dabbagh, 2016; Ebrahimi, and

Hosseini, 2016a,b).

In order to fulfill these applications of piezoelectric nanostructures, it is essential to get a

thorough and comprehensive understanding on the electromechanical coupling behaviors of

piezoelectric materials at the nano-scale. (Lao et.al, 2007; Ebrahimi and Barati, 2016a-k). The

classical mechanic continuum theories assert to predict the response of structures up to a

minimum size which they fail to provide accurate predictions. The nonlocal theories add a size

parameter in the modeling of the continuum (Eringen, 1968, 1972). Based on nonlocal beam

theories, Xu (2006) verified the free vibrations of nano-to-micro scale beams, and showed that

the nonlocal effect becomes significant, especially for high-order natural frequencies. Lee and

Chang (2010) and Elishakoff and Soret (2013) studied the coupled effects of nonlocal and

surface effect on the vibration of nonlocal nanobeams using Gurtin--Murdoch model and Euler-

Bernoulli beam theory (EBT). Based on both EBT and Timoshenko beam theory (TBT),

Malekzadeh and Shojaee (2013) studied the surface and nonlocal effects on the nonlinear

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flexural vibrations of elastically supported nanobeams of non-uniform cross sections. Gheshlaghi

and Hasheminejad (2012) and Samaei et al. (2013) developed an analytical model for predicting

surface effects on the vibrations of piezoelectric non-local nanowires based on EBT. Murmu and

Pradhan (2009) presented the contributions of the nonlinearity and nonlocal effects on nonlinear

vibration of nanobeams. According to the surface elasticity theory developed by Gurtin and

Murdoch (1975), the size-dependency of nanoscale structures due to the surface effects have

been widely researched by the adjustment continuum models from static and dynamic properties

(Wang an Wang 2011; Ebrahimi and Boreiry 2015; Ebrahimi et al. 2016a; 2015a,b).

In addition to the surface effects, flexoelectricity which refers to a spontaneous polarization

induced by strain gradients is also believed to play a significant role in characterizing the size-

dependent properties of dielectrics at the nano-scale. It was interpreted that the strain gradients or

non-uniform strain fields can locally break the inversion symmetry of the materials and thus

induce the polarization in the structures. Therefore, the flexoelectricity is a universal effect in all

dielectrics even in centrosymmetric crystals. In general, such flexoelectric effect is rather

insignificant relative to the piezoelectric effect for macro-scale piezoelectric materials. However,

due to the large strain gradients typically exhibited in nanomaterials, the flexoelectricity becomes

manifest and may significantly influence the electromechanical behaviors of nano-scale

piezoelectric. A thorough and comprehensive review of the physical fundamentals, effects, and

possible applications of the flexoelectricity in solids has been conducted by Nguyen et al.,

(2013). In recent years, efforts have been made by researchers to provide increased

understanding on this delicate effect from both experimental and theoretical aspects. For

example, a series of experiments have been conducted by Ma and Cross (2012) to quantitatively

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investigate the flexoelectricity by measuring the flexoelectric coefficients of ferroelectric

ceramics, which were found to scale with their dielectric permittivity. In addition, some

pioneering theoretical frameworks have been established to account for the flexoelectricity by

extending from the linear piezoelectricity developed by Touplin (1965). Based on these

fundamental frameworks, the flexoelectric effect on the electromechanical coupling behaviors of

piezoelectric nanostructures has been investigated and it was found that the flexoelectricity is

responsible for the size-dependent electroelastic responses of piezoelectric nanomaterials

(Majdoub, 2008) .Therefore, the flexoelectricity is another significant factor needed to be

considered for characterizing the electromechanical coupling in piezoelectric nanomaterials.

Lately, a number of studies are administered to consolidate the surface effects in analysis of

piezoelectric nanostructure. Yan and Jiang (2012) investigated the influence of surface

piezoelasticity on the buckling behavior of piezoelectric nanofilms subjected to mechanical

loadings. They also studied the influence of surface effects, including residual surface stress,

surface elasticity and surface piezoelectricity, on the vibrational and buckling behavior of

piezoelectric nanobeams by using the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. Readers interested in

buckling of carbon nanotubes are referred to the review of Wang et al. (2009). This theory

includes a nonlocal stress which introduces a stiffness-softening influence on the nanostructures

(Ebrahimi and Barati 2016s; Ebrahimi et al. 2016a,b). They studied the electromechanical

coupling behavior of a piezoelectric nanowire consolidating both surface and nonlocal effects.

Also in recent years the mechanical behavior of nanoplates is investigated based on various plate

shear deformation plate theories (Ebrahimi and Barati, 2016m-r; Ebrahimi et al., 2016b;) while

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the analysis of nano-structure’s mechanical behaviors is one of recent interesting research topics.

(Ebrahimi and salari 2015a-c; Ebrahimi and Barati, 2017).

Ansari et al. (2016) presented thermo-electrical vibrational analysis of post-buckled piezoelectric

nanosize beams according to the nonlocal elasticity theory. Ebrahimi and Barati (2016 b, c)

investigated dynamic behavior of non-homogenous piezoelectric nanobeams under magnetic

field. Wang et al. (2016) investigated the influence of surface effects, including residual surface

stress, surface elasticity and surface piezoelectricity, on the vibrational and buckling behaviors of

piezoelectric nanobeams. Jamalpour et al (2016) studied free vibration and biaxial buckling of

double-magneto-electro-elastic nanoplate-systems (DMEENPS) subjected to initial external

electric and magnetic potentials, using nonlocal plate theory. However, investigation of the

flexoelectric effect on the buckling responses of piezoelectric sandwich nanobeams has not been

reported thus far. Therefore, the objective of the present work is to investigate the influence of

the flexoelectricity on the buckling of multilayered piezoelectric nanobeams supported by

Winkler-Pasternak elastic foundation. The boundary conditions and governing equations are

derived by energy method and are solved by Navier method. A nonlocal flexoelectric sandwich

nanobeam including surface effect is developed for buckling analysis of embedded piezoelectric

nanobeams.

2. Nonlocal elasticity theory for the piezoelectric materials with flexoelectric effect

Assume a sandwich nanobeam made of PZT-5H piezoelectric material, as shown in Fig. 1. Based

on the nonlocal elasticity model (Eringen 1972) which contains broad range interplays between

points in a continuum solid, the stress state at a point inside a body is introduced as a function of

the strains of all neighbor points. The influence of flexoelectricity due to the elastic polarization

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Pi induced by strain gradient, and the elastic stress created by electric field gradient, can be

expressed by:

Ek
 ij  (e0 a)2 2 ij  Cijkl kl  ekij Ek  f klij (1a)
xl

 kl
Pi  (e0 a ) 2  2 Pi   0  ij E j  eikl  kl  f ijkl (1b)
x j

where  ij ,  ij , Ek denote the stress, strain and electric field components, respectively; C ijkl , e kij

and k ik are elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric constant, respectively. Also, ij is the relative

dielectric susceptibility and fijkl is the flexoelectric coefficient. Also, e 0a is nonlocal parameter

which is introduced to describe the size-dependency of nanostructures. The effect of

flexoelectricity is involved using the following expression of the electric enthalpy energy density

was As follows:

1 1 1  ij Ek
H  akl Ek El  cijkl  ij  kl  ekij Ek  ij  f klij ( Ek   ij ) (2)
2 2 2 xl xl

Finally, the constitutive relations incorporating nonlocal and flexoelectricity effects can be

expressed by:

H f klij Ek
(1  (e0 a ) 2  2 ) ij   Cijkl  kl  ekij Ek  (3a)
 ij 2 xl

H
(1  (e0 a) 2  2 ) ijl    fijkl Ek (3b)
 ( ij / xl )

H fijkl  kl
(1  (e0 a ) 2  2 ) Di    aij E j  eikl  kl  (3d)
Ei 2 x j

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H fijkl
(1  (e0 a ) 2  2 )Qij    kl (3e)
 (Ei / x j ) 2

in which  ijl denotes the moment stress tensor due to the converse flexoelectric effect, Di is the

electric displacement vector and Qij denotes the electric quadruple density due to flexoelectricity,

respectively. The size-dependent phenomena in piezoelectric nanostructures due to

flexoelectricity involved in Eq. (3) is reported in analysis of nanowires, nanobeams and

nanoplates. Taking into account the surface effects, i.e. the residual surface stress, the surface

elasticity, and the surface piezoelectricity, the surface internal energy density Us can be defined

by the surface strain and the surface polarization as:

1 1 s
U s    
s
 as Es Es  c  
s
 s  e
s
Es  
s
(4)
2 2

in which  denotes the surface residual stress tensor, as and c
s
denote the surface

s
permittivity and surface elastic constants. Also, e and Es are the surface piezoelectric tensor

and surface electric field. Finally, the nonlocal surface constitutive relations can be written as:

U s
(1  (e0 a ) 2  2 ) 
s
    c
s
 s  e
s
Es (5a)
 

U s
(1  (e0 a ) 2  2 ) Ds    as Es  e
s
 
s
(5b)
Es

where  s and Ds are the surface Cauchy stress and surface electric displacement.

3. Theoretical formulation

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Here, the classical beam theory is employed for modeling of a piezoelectric sandwich nanobeam

with surface, nonlocal and flexoelectric effects. The displacement field at any point of the

nanobeam can be written as:

w
u1  x, y , z   u  z (6a)
x

u3 ( x, y, z )  w (6b)

where u is displacement of the mid-surface and w is the bending displacement. Based on the
Euler--Bernoulli beam theory, can be defined as:

u1 u 2w
 xx    z 2 , (7a)
x x x

 xx 2w
 xxz    2 . (7b)
z x

Through extended Hamilton’s principle, the governing equations can be derived as follows:

t
  (
0 S   K  W ) dt  0
(8)

Πs1  ( xx xx   xxz δη xxz )dv  ( xxs  xx )ds (9a)
V s

Πs2  ( xx xx   xxz δη xxz )dv  ( xxs  xx )ds (9b)
V s

where S and W are strain energy and external forces work, respectively and K is kinetic

energy. The strain energy can be written as:

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δu  2 w  2 w
l
Πs1  [( N SS  N )
δx
 M XX  M XX
S
XX
S

x 2

 pxxz
x 2

]dx     (10a)
0

δu  2 w  2 w
l
Πs2  [( N SS  N XX
S
)
δx

 M XX  M XX
S

x 2
 p xxz
x 2
]dx (10b)
0

in which the variables introduced in arriving at the last expression are defined as follows:

( N xx , M xx )   (1, z ) xx dA, (11a)

A

Pxxz    xxz dA. (11b)

A

The work done by applied forces can be written in the form:

w  w w  w
l
 Π w1  ( N 0  kw w  k p dx  f13  w1   w2  (12a)
0
x  x x x

w  w w  w
l
 Π w 2  ( N 0  kw w  k p dx  f13  w2   w1  (12b)
0
x  x x x

where N 0 is axial load and k w , k p are elastic foundation parameters. The first variational of the

virtual

in which the mass inertias are defined as:

0
I 0 a , I1a , I 2 a  b  (1, z, z )  dz (13)
2

 h /2

0
I 0 a , I1a , I 2 a  b  (1, z, z )  dz (14)
2

 h /2

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The following equations are obtained by inserting Eqs. (10a),(10b) and (12a),(12b) in Eq.(8)

when the coefficients of  u ,  w are equal to zero:

  N xx  N xxs 
 0 (15a)
x

  N xx  N xxs 
 0 (15b)
x

  2 Pxxz
2

x 2
 M xx  M xxs   x 2  
 2b 0  bN O  2 w  bk w w  bk p  2 w  0 (15c)

  2 Pxxz
2

x 2
M xx M s
xx  
x 2  
 2b 0  bN O  2 w  bk w w  bk p  2 w  0 (15d)

Where Nxx is the critical load of buckling.

u  0, or ( N xx  N xx
s
) nx  0 (16a)

 ( M xx  M xx
s
) Pxxz w w
w  0, or nx (   N0  kp )  0 (16b)
x x x x

w
 0, or ( M xx  M xxs )nx  0 (16c)
x

For a piezoelectric sandwich nanobeam with the flexoelectric effect, the nonlocal constitutive

relations for the bulk may be written as:

 f31  2 (17a)
 xx  (e0 a ) 2  2 xx  c11 xx  e31 
z 2 z 2

f 31 
 xxz  (e0 a ) 2  2 xxz   (17b)
2 z

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 f 31
Dz  (e0 a ) 2  2 Dz  e31  xx  k33   xxz (18a)
z 2

f 31
Qzz  (e0 a ) 2  2Qzz    xx (18b)
2


where  is the electrostatic potential and E z   . Also, the nonlocal constitutive relations for
z

the surface layer can be expressed by:


 xxs  (e0 a ) 2  2 xxs   xx
0
 c11
s
 xx  e31
s
(19)
z

Under the open circuit condition, the electric displacement on the surface is zero. Therefore, one

can obtain the electric field an electric field gradient as

e31 u e f 2w
E z  ( )  ( z 31  31 )( 2 ) (20)
k33 x k33 k33 x

Finally, the electric field gradient can be written as:

e31  2 w
Ez , z  (21)
k33 x 2

Using Eqs. (20) and (19) the nonlocal constitutive relations for the bulk and surface can be

expressed by the following for

 2
e31  u  2
e31  w2  e31 f31   2 w
 xx1   e0 a   2 xx1   c11     11
c  z   (22)
 k33  x  k33  x 2  2k33  x 2

 2
e31  u  2
e31  w2  e31 f31   2 w
 xx 2   e0 a    xx 2
2
  c11     c11  z   (23)
 k33  x  k33  x 2  2k33  x 2

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 e31 f  u  e31 f31   2 w f31  2 w

 xxz1   e0 a    xxz1   31
2
  z 2  (24)
 2k33  x  2k33  x 2k33 x 2

 e31 f31  u  e31 f31   2 w f31  2 w

 xxz 2   e0 a   2 xxz 2     z 2  (25)
 2k33  x  2k33  x 2k33 x 2

 s e31 s
 u  s e31 s
  2 w  e31
s
f  w
2 
   e0 a        c11  31    c11  31  z 2   31
e e
2 
s 2 s 0
(26)
 
 x   
xx1 xx1 xx
 k33 k33  x  k 33 x 

 s
e31  u  s e31 s
  2 w  e31 s
f31  w
2 
 xxs 2   e0 a   2 xxs 2   xx0   c11s    
e31
  11
e31

c  z  2 

(27)
 k33  x  k33  x 2
k
 33 x 

Therefore, by integrating Eqs. (22)-(27) over the beam’s cross-section area, the force and

moment stress resultants can be rewritten in the following form:

u 2 y
N XX 1   e0 a   2 N XX 1  A11
2
 B11 2 (28)
x x

u 2 y
N XX 2   e0 a   2 N XX 2  A22
2
 B22 2 (29)
x x

2 y
M XX 1   e0a   2 M XX 1  C11
2
(30)
x 2

u 2w
PXXZ 1   e0 
2
 pxxz1  B22
2
 D11 2 (31)
x x

u 2w
PXXZ 2   e0   2 pxxz 2  B22
2
 D11 2 (32)
x x

and the cross sectional rigidities are defined as:

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 2
e31  bh  e31 f31  bh
A11   c11   , B11   (33)
 k33  2  2k33  2

 2
e31  bh  f312  bh
c11   c11   , D11   (34)
 k33  24  2k33  2

 2
e31  bh  e31 f31  bh
A22   c11   , B22   (35)
 k33  2  2k33  2

 2
e31  bh  f312  bh
c22   c11   , D22   (36)
 k33  24  2k33  2

And the force and moment stress resultants due to surface piezoelectricity may be expressed as:

u 2w
s
N xx  (e0 a ) 2  2 N xx
s
 A11s  B11s
x x 2 (37)

u 2w
s
M xx  (e0 a) 2  2 M xx
s
 F11s  C11s
x x 2 (38)

In which

 e es   e e s  bh 2 f31e31s
A11S   C11S  31 31  h , B11S   C11S  31 31   h (39)
 k33   k33  4 k33

 e e s  bh2 S  S e31e31 s
 h3 f31e31
s
bh2
F11s   C11S  31 31  , C11   C11    (40)
 k33  4  k33  12 k33 4

 e es   e e s  bh2 f31e31
s
A22S   C11S  31 31  h, B22S   C11S  31 31   h (41)
 k33   k33  4 k33

 e e s  bh2 S  S e31e31 s
 h3 f31e31s bh2
F22s   C11S  31 31  , C22   C11    (42)
 k33  4  k33  12 k33 4

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The nonlocal governing equations of a piezoelectric sandwich nanobeam with surface and

flexoelectric effects in terms of the displacement can be derived by substituting Eqs. (33)-(36),

into Eq. (13),(14)as follows:

 xu   B  xw  0 (43)

2 3

A11  A11
S
2 11  B11
S
3

 2u 3w
A 22 A
S
22  x 2

 B22  B22
S

x3

 0 (44)

 3u  4W  2w    2   2 w 

( B11  F ) 3  C11  C11  D11
S

x
S

x 4

 2b 0  2    e0 a  2b 0  2  2 
2

 x   x  x 
11

 2w    2   2 w   2w   2w 

bN 0  2    e0  bN 0   2   bkw  (e0 a)2 bkw  2   k p  2 
2
(45)
 x   x  x   x   x 
  2   2 w 
(e0 a)2 bk p  2   2   0
 x  x 

 3u  4W  2w    2   2 w 

( B22  F ) 3  C22  C22  D22
S

x
S

x 4

 2b 0  2    e0 a  2b 0  2  2 
2

 x   x  x 
22

 2w    2   2 w   2w   2w 

bN 0  2    e0  bN 0   2   bkw  (e0 a)2 bkw  2   k p  2 
2
(46)
 x   x  x   x   x 
  2   2 w 
(e0 a)2 bk p  2  2   0
 x  x 

4. Solution procedure

Here, on the basis of the Navier method, an analytical solution of the governing equations for

buckling of a simply supported nanobeam is presented. To satisfy governing equations of

motion, the displacement variables are adopted to be of the form:


n
 u, Ψ   (un , Ψ n )cos  
x  (47)
n 1  l 

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
n
 w,  , γ   ( wn ,  n , γ n )sin  
x  (48)
n 1  l 

where Un, Wn,  n , Ψ n and γ n are the unknown Fourier coefficients. Using Eqs. (47) - (48) the

analytical solution can be obtained from the following equations:

 k1,1 k1,2 k1,3 

 
 k2,1 k2,2 k2,3  d  0 (50)
 k3,1 k3,2 k3,3 


where

 n 
2


K1,1  A11  A11S 
 l 
 
 n 
3


K1,2  B11  F S
11  
 l 
 (51)
k1,3  0

 n 
3

K 2,1    B11  B11S   

 l 

 n   n   n 
4 2 4

K 2,2    C11  C11S  D11     b  N  2 0  

0
  (e0 a ) b  N  2 0  
2 0

 l   l   l 

 n   n   n   n 
2 2 4

   e0 a  bk p     C22  C22  D22 

2
bk w    (e0 a ) bk w 
2
  bk p 
S

 l   l   l   l 

 n   n   n 
4 2 4

  b  N  2 0     (e0 a ) b  N  2 0  
0 2 0
 
 l   l   l 

 n 
3

K 2,3   B22  F22S    , k3,1  0

 l 

 n  S  n 
3 2

K 3,2    B22  B    , K 3,3   A11  A11  

S
22 
 l   l 

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d  {Un, Wn,  n , Ψ n , γ n }T (52)

where (EI)eff and is the effective bending rigidity of the piezoelectric nanobeam, respectively.

1 2
e31  3  s e31 2
e31   1 2 1 3 
 EI eff =  c11   bh   c11    bh  h  (53)
12  k33   k33   2 6 

the determination of the critical load of buckling is essential. According to the buckling theory, a

piezoelectric nanobeam buckles under the following condition (Timoshenko et al., 1961):

 2  EI eff
Pcr = (  ) (54)
 KL 
2

where K is the effective-length factor which depends on the end conditions of the beam. For

example, K = 1 for the S--S.

Accounting for the surface effects, the critical load of buckling corresponding to the buckling of

the piezoelectric nanobeam can be derived by substituting Eqs. (30),into Eq. (28) as follows:

 2  EI eff
(C11bh 0  2bc s
0  2b 
0

 KL 
11 x 2

Ncr   (55)
 s 2b 
 e31b  e31 
 h 

These equations derived above depict the dependence of the critical compressive axial force for

buckling on the surface effect parameters as well as the boundary conditions. It may be noted

that, if surface effects are excluded in the analysis, these equations reduce to those for the

conventional piezoelectric beams.

 Simply-supported (S):

w  N xx  M xx  0 at x=0,L (56)

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5. Numerical results and discussions

In this section, results are provided to investigate the buckling behavior of embedded

flexoelectric sandwich nanobeams employing nonlocal elasticity theory incorporating surface

effect. S-S boundary conditions are considered in this analysis. In the present paper it is assumed

that the flexoelectric sandwich nanobeam is made of PZT-5H where the elastic properties are

considered in table 1.

Comparison is performed with those of a double nanobeam presented by Wang and Wang (2011)

In Fig.2. The results are in an excellent agreement with those of Wang and Wang (2011). for

validation assume a nanowire that the flexural rigidity can be accounted by:

 
EI  ED 4  E s D 3 (57)
64 8

Also, here we assumed the non-dimensional buckling load as

ˆ N X0 L2
N  , (58)
h3

which is expressed for three cases of deflection such as:

L2 L2 1 ea
Kw  Kw , KP  KP , D  C11 h3 , µ  0 (59)
D D 12 L

Fig.3 determines the surface and flexoelectric effects on the buckling of piezoelectric sandwich

nanobeams with respect to thickness for S-S boundary conditions at µ = 0.1. In this figure, NL

refers to nonlocal piezoelectric sandwich nanobeam without surface and flexoelectric effects.

NL-Flexoelectric refers to a nonlocal flexoelectric nanobeam without surface effect. Also, NL-

SE denotes a nonlocal piezoelectric sandwich nanobeam without flexoelectric effect. In fact,

inclusion of surface effect enhances the stiffness of flexoelectric nanobeams and the critical load

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of buckling increase. It is found that flexoelectricity effect leads to higher the critical load of

buckling, especially at smaller values of nanobeam thickness. Therefore, the maximum the

critical load of buckling are observed for NL-SE-Flexoelectric nanobeam, while nonlocal (NL

without flexoelectricity) piezoelectric nanobeam has the minimum buckling load. For the

nonlocal (NL) piezoelectric nanobeams. But, when the flexoelectric effect is involved, the

critical load of buckling reduce as the value of thickness rises. So, flexoelectricity has an

important size effect on buckling behavior of piezoelectric nanobeams. It can be concluded that

surface and flexoelectric effects are important at lower thicknesses. In other words, effects

surface elasticity and flexoelectricity are negligible at large thicknesses.

Examination of flexoelectric and nonlocal effects on buckling behavior of flexoelectric sandwich

nanobeams under S-S boundary condition when L/h = 10 is presented in Fig. 4. It is observable

from this figure that neglecting the flexoelectric effect leads to lower the critical load of buckling

at a fixed nonlocal parameter. It is also found that the nonlocal flexoelectric nanobeam has lower

the critical load of compared with local flexoelectric sandwich nanobeam (µ = 0nm2). So,

inclusion of nonlocal stress field parameter reduces the critical load of buckling a flexoelectric

sandwich nanobeam. Such observation is neglected in all previous analyzes on flexoelectric

sandwich nanobeams. So, by ignoring the effect of nonlocality in analysis of flexoelectric

nanobeams, the obtained results are overestimated. Hence, it can be concluded that the buckling

behavior of flexoelectric sandwich nanobeams is sensitive to the nonlocal parameter. The

maximum and minimum the critical load of buckling flexoelectric nanobeam are obtained for S-

S boundary condition. In fact, stronger supports at ends make the flexoelectric nanobeam stiffer

and natural frequencies rise.

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Influences of Winkler (Kw) and Pasternak (Kp) foundation parameters on natural frequencies of

flexoelectric nanobeam with surface effect for different nonlocal parameters at L/h = 10 is

presented in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively. It is found that presence of elastic medium has a

significant effect on the buckling behavior flexoelectric nanobeams. In fact, elastic medium

makes the flexoelectric nanobeam more rigid and the critical load of buckling increase at a

constant nonlocal parameter. Moreover, the critical load of buckling results of embedded

flexoelectric nanobeam depend on the value of nonlocal parameter. It is observed that increasing

the value of nonlocal parameter leads to reduction in dimensionless critical load of flexoelectric

nanobeam at every magnitude of Winkler and Pasternak foundation parameters. This is due to

stiffness reduction of flexoelectric sandwich nanobeam by considering the nonlocal stress field

parameter.

Another investigation on the effect of elastic medium, surface elasticity and flexoelectricity on

the critical load of buckling flexoelectric sandwich nanobeams is presented in Figs .7 and 8 at

L/h = 10, µ = 0.1. It is found that existence of elastic medium leads to the critical load of

buckling. In fact, critical load of piezoelectric sandwich nanobeam increase linearly with the rise

of Winkler or Pasternak parameters. Also, it is found that Pasternak layer has more significant

impact on dimensionless critical load of flexoelectric sandwich nanobeam than Winkler layer. In

fact, Pasternak layer has a continuous interaction with the flexoelectric sandwich nanobeams.

However, Winkler layer is modeled via infinite parallel springs and has a discontinuous

interaction with the flexoelectric sandwich nanobeam. But, these observations are dependent on

the surface and flexoelectric effects. Considering both surface and flexoelectric effects leads the

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largest natural frequencies at a constant elastic foundation parameters. Neglecting flexoelectric

or surface effects leads to lower natural frequencies at fixed elastic foundation parameters.

6. Conclusions

This paper investigates the buckling characteristics of a flexoelectric sandwich nanobeam based

on nonlocal elasticity theory considering surface effects. The model include a nonlocal stress

field parameter and a flexoelectric coefficient to capture the size effect. The governing

differential equations and natural boundary were derived by the use of the Hamilton’s principle.

The solution of these equations is provided employing a Navier method. Evaluation of the

influences of nonlocality, flexoelectricity, surface, elastic foundation, boundary conditions and

beam thickness is conducted for buckling behavior of flexoelectric nanobeams. Numerical results

show that:

The nonlocal term has an important reduction on the critical load of buckling.

Flexoelectricity shows an increasing influence on the critical buckling load especially at

lower thicknesses.

Effect of flexoelectricity depends on the nonlocality.

The effect of Pasternak parameter on natural frequencies is more announced compared

with Winkler parameter for every value of nonlocal parameter.

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Table 1. Flexoelectric properties of PZT-5H sandwich nanobeam (Yang et al. 2015)

Properties PZT-5H

c11(Gpa) 102

c12 31

c66 35.5

e31(C/m2) 17.05

k33(C/(Vm)) 1.76  108

f31(V) 107

c11s (N/m) 102

c12s 3.3

c66s 2.13

e31s (C/m) -3.8  108

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Table 2: Surface and flexoelectricity effects on buckling of nonlocal piezoelectric sandwich

nanobeams with respect to h/l (µ = 0.1, Kw = Kp = 0).

NL without NL-SE without NL-SE with

flexoelectricity flexoelectricity flexoelectricity

h/L Dimensionless frequency

0.05 0.924 5.304 4.778

0.1 0.924 2.463 2.215

0.15 0.924 1.281 1.183

0.2 0.924 1.043 1.003

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Table 3: Nonlocal and flexoelectricity effects buckling of nonlocal piezoelectric sandwich

nanobeams (L/h = 10, Kw = Kp = 0).

S-S without flexoelectricity S-S with flexoelectricity

µ Dimensionless frequency

0.2 3.84 3.14

0.4 2.76 2.12

0.6 1.87 1.26

0.8 1.33 0.78

1 1.12 0.62

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Table 4: Nonlocal and Winkler and Pasternak foundation effects on buckling of piezoelectric

nanobeams (L/h = 10).

Kw = 25 S-S Kw = 50 S-S Kp = 25 S-S Kp = 50 S-S

µ Dimensionless frequency

0.2 4.423 4.304 6.693 7.789

0.4 3.240 3.115 4.123 5.123

0.6 2.118 2.267 2.409 3.129

0.8 1.209 1.725 2.018 2.415

1 1.198 1.658 1.897 2.395

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Table 5: Surface and flexoelectric effects on buckling of piezoelectric nanobeams with respect to

Winkler and Pasternak parameters (L/h = 10, µ = 0.1).

S-S without S-S with S-S without S-S with

flexoelectricity flexoelectricity, Flexoelectricity flexoelectricity,

Surface surface

Kw Dimensionless critical load KP Dimensionless critical load

0 1.102 2.217 0 3.635 4.269

50 1.523 2.685 10 4.055 4.782

100 1.897 3.123 20 4.475 5.311

150 2.359 3.609 30 4.898 5.835

200 2.73 4.009 40 5.319 6.32

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Fig. 1. Geometry and coordinates of flexoelectric sandwich nanobeam.

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Figure 2: Comparison of Normalized critical load of double nanowire system versus the

nanowire diameter.

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NL without flexoelectric effect

Dimensionless critical loading 5
NL-SE without flexoelectric effect

4
NL-SE with flexoelectric effect

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
h/l

Fig. 3. Surface and flexoelectricity effects on the buckling nonlocal piezoelectric sandwich

nanobeams with respect to thickness (µ=0.1, Kw=Kp=0).

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4.5
4 S-S without flexoelectric effect

Dimensionless critical load

3.5
3
S-S with flexoelectric effect
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
µ

Fig. 4. Nonlocal and flexoelectricity effects on the buckling nonlocal piezoelectric sandwich

nanobeams (L/h=10, Kw=Kp=0).

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Dimensionless critical load

Kw=25
5 Kw=50
4

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
µ

Fig. 5. Nonlocal and Winkler foundation effects on the buckling of piezoelectric nanobeams

(L/h=10, Kp=0).

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9
8
Kp=25

Dimensionless critical load

7
Kp=50
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
µ

Fig. 6. Nonlocal and Pasternak foundation effects on the buckling of piezoelectric nanobeams

(L/h=10, Kw=0).

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4.5
4

Dimensionless critical load

3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
S-S without flexoelectric effect
1
0.5 S-S with flexoelectric effect

0
0 50 100 150 200
Kw

Fig. 7. Surface and flexoelectric effects on the buckling of piezoelectric nanobeams with respect

to Winkler parameter (L/h=10, µ=0.1).

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Dimensionless critical load

5

3
S-S without flexoelectric effect
2
S-S with flexoelectric effect
1

0
0 10 20 30 40
Kp

Fig. 8. Surface and flexoelectric effects on the buckling of piezoelectric nanobeams with respect

to Pasternak parameter (L/h=10, µ=0.1).

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