Thin-Walled Structures 78 (2014) 48–56

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Thin-Walled Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tws

Nonlinear free vibration of skew nanoplates with surface

and small scale effects
P. Malekzadeh n, M.R. Golbahar Haghighi, M. Shojaee
Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr 7516913798, Iran

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The nonlinear free flexural vibration of skew nanoplates is studied by considering the influences of free
Received 1 June 2013 surface energy and size effect (small scale) simultaneously. The formulations are derived based on
Received in revised form classical plate theory (CPT) in conjunction with nonlocal and surface elasticity theories using Hamilton0 s
31 October 2013
principle. Green0 s strain tensor together with von Kármán assumptions is employed to model the
Accepted 31 October 2013
Available online 29 January 2014
geometrical nonlinearity. The free surfaces are modeled as two-dimensional membranes adhering to the
underlying bulk material without slipping. The solution algorithm is based on the transformation of
Keywords: the governing differential equation from the physical domain to a rectangular computational one, and
Nonlinear free vibration discretization of the spatial derivatives by employing the differential quadrature method (DQM) as an
Skew nanoplates
efficient and accurate numerical tool. The effect of small scale parameter and surface effect together with
Small scale effect
the geometrical parameters and boundary conditions on the nonlinear frequency parameters of the skew
Free surface energy
Differential quadrature method nanoplates are studied.
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction usually neglected in the classical elasticity theory. On the other

The nanostructural elements such as nanowires, nanorods,
nanobeams and nanoplates have been used as the building blocks
in modern science and technology in recent years, for example, in
micro/nano electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) [1] and
biosensors [2]. This is because they have superior mechanical,
electrical and thermal performances with respect to the conven-
tional structural elements. On the other hand, since the thin
nanoplates can undergo large deformation without violating the
failure criteria, the nonlinear analysis becomes essential to accu-
rately achieve the dynamic behavior of these nanostructural
elements for engineering design and manufacture.
Both experimental observations [3–5] and atomistic simulations
[6–8] indicate that when the structural size decreases towards the
nanoscale regime, their mechanical properties and consequently
their response become size-dependent. This is because the surface
layers differ from their bulk counterparts in that their elastic
responses are intrinsically size-dependent and the surface-to-bulk
energy ratio increases with the increase of surface-to-volume ratio.
Hence, the surface energy becomes a significant part of the total
elastic potential energy and should be taken into account when
studying the mechanical behavior of this type of elements, which is
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 98 771 422 2150; fax: þ98 771 454 0376.
E-mail addresses: malekzadeh@pgu.ac.ir,
p_malekz@yahoo.com (P. Malekzadeh).
hand, the size (small scale) effect, which is due to long-range inter-
atomic interaction, has significant influence on the mechanical
behavior of the nanostructural elements and should be considered
to achieve solutions with acceptable accuracy [8].
Both surface and small scale effects inherently appear in the
governing equations when one uses atomistic simulation methods
to analyze the nanostructural elements. But, these methods con-
sume much time and are computationally expensive for analyzing
nanostructures with large numbers of atoms. Thus, because of the
simplicity, computational efficiency and accuracy, continuum
mechanic approaches are often adopted; see for example Refs.
[9–29]. To overcome the drawbacks of the classical continuum
theory in predicting the size dependence (free surface energy) and
small scale effect of material properties of nanostructures, usually
the surface elasticity theory of Gurtin and Murdoch [30,31] and
the nonlocal elasticity theory of Eringen [32–34] are employed,
respectively.
Based on the surface elasticity theory of Gurtin and Murdoch
[30,31], the surfaces are modeled as two-dimensional membrane
adhering to the underlying bulk material without slipping to
account the effect of surfaces/interfaces on mechanical properties.
It has been shown that with correct choice of surface elastic
properties, this surface elasticity theory explains various size-
dependent phenomena at the nanoscale and the predictions fit
well with atomistic simulations and experimental measurements
[4,35,36]. Also, the nonlocal elasticity theory of Eringen is imple-
mented by assuming that the stress at a point is a function of the

0263-8231/$ - see front matter & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2013.10.027
 P. Malekzadeh et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 78 (2014) 48–56 49

strains at all points in the domain and as a result, the inter-atomic

forces and atomic length scales directly appear in the constitutive
relations as material parameters [32–34].
In recent years, some studies have been performed to investi-
gate the surface effects on the bending and the linear and
nonlinear free vibration of nanoplates; see for example Refs.
[21–25]. However, in these interesting studies the nonlocal effect
has not been taken into account. On the other hand, based on the
nonlocal constitutive relation of Eringen and without including the
surface effects, some researchers have been attempted to develop
nonlocal nanoplate models and apply them to analyze linear and
nonlinear vibration behaviors of nanoplates; see for example Refs.
[9–20]. To the best of authors0 knowledge, the work of Wang and
Wang [29] is the only one which includes both the surface and
nonlocal effects on the linear free vibration behavior of nanoplates.
They employed both the classical as well as the first-order shear
deformation theories to study the linear free vibration behavior of
simply supported rectangular nanoplates.
From the literature survey, it can be seen that the surface and
nonlocal effects on the nonlinear free vibration analysis of rectan-
gular nanoplates have been investigated separately. On the other
hand, the previous studies showed that both these phenomenon
have significant effects on the vibrational behavior of nanoplates.
Hence, in this paper, the nonlinear free vibration analysis of skew
Fig. 1. The geometry of skew nanoplate.
nanoplates is performed by considering both the surface as well as
the small scale effects simultaneously. The formulation is derived
based on the classical plate theory (CPT) in conjunction with the components become,
von Kármán geometrical nonlinearity assumptions. Since it is not
∂2 w
possible to obtain the analytical solution for the nonlinear free εxx ¼ ε0xx  z ; ð2aÞ
∂x2
vibration analysis of skew nanoplates with arbitrary boundary
conditions, the approximate methods should be employed to solve ∂2 w
the problem. In addition, the DQM is an efficient and accurate εyy ¼ ε0yy  z ; ð2bÞ
∂y2
numerical approach compared to the weighted residual methods
[37–43]. Hence, this numerical method is employed to solve the ∂2 w
nonlinear differential governing equation of skew nanoplates γ xy ¼ γ 0xy 2z ; ð2cÞ
∂x∂y
subjected to arbitrary boundary conditions. The effects of surface
elasticity, nonlocal parameter, skew angle and amplitude ratio of where εii(i¼ x,y) and γxy are the normal and shear strain tensor
the skew nanoplates on the nonlinear natural frequency of the components of an arbitrary material point of the nanoplate, respec-
skew nanoplates are studied. tively; also, ε0ii ði ¼ x; yÞ and γ 0xy are the normal and shear strain tensor
components of an arbitrary material point on the mid-plane of the
nanoplate, respectively,
2. Mathematical modeling and solution procedure

∂u 1 ∂w 2
ε0xx ¼ þ ; ð3aÞ
Consider a skew nanoplate of length a, width b and thickness h ∂x 2 ∂x
as shown in Fig. 1. It is assumed that the nanoplate is homo-

geneous and isotropic. A Cartesian coordinate system (x,y,z) is used ∂v 1 ∂w 2
ε0yy ¼ þ ; ð3bÞ
to label the material points of the skew nanoplate in the unde- ∂y 2 ∂y
formed reference configuration. Since the large deformation effect
∂v ∂u ∂w ∂w
is practically important for thin nanoplates, the CPT seems to be γ 0xy ¼ þ þ : ð3cÞ
∂x ∂y ∂x ∂y
sufficient for modeling of the dynamic behavior of the thin
nanoplates. Based on the CPT, the displacement components The constitutive relations of the upper (S þ ) and lower (S  )
u (in the x-direction), v (in the y-direction) and w (in the surface layers as given by Gurtin and Murdoch [30,31] can be
z-direction) of an arbitrary material points of the nanoplate can expressed as
be approximated as,
sxx
7
¼ τ07 þ ð2μ07 þ λ07 Þεxx
7
þ ðλ07 þ τ07 Þεyy
7
; ð4aÞ
∂w
uðx; y; z; tÞ ¼ uðx; y; tÞ  z ; ð1aÞ
∂x syy
7
¼ τ07 þ ð2μ07 þ λ07 Þεyy
7
þ ðλ07 þ τ07 Þεxx
7
; ð4bÞ
∂w
vðx; y; z; tÞ ¼ vðx; y; tÞ z ; ð1bÞ
∂y sxy
7
¼ ð2μ07  τ07 Þγ xy
7
ð4cÞ

wðx; y; z; tÞ ¼ wðx; y; tÞ
where u, v and w are the in-plane displacement components along
the x and y-directions and the transverse displacement component of
the material point (x,y) on the mid-surface of the nanoplate. Using
Eq. (1) and based on the von Kármán assumptions, the nonzero
components of Green0 s strain tensor in terms of the displacement
ð1cÞ Here, τ07 are the residual surface tension under unstrained
condition, μ07 and λ07 the surface Lame0 s constants, εii7 and γ ij7
ði; j ¼ x; yÞ the normal and shear strain components of the surfaces
S 7 , respectively. Without loss of generality, it is assumed that the
surfaces S 7 have the same material properties,
λ07 ¼ λs ; ð5aÞ
50 P. Malekzadeh et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 78 (2014) 48–56

τ07 ¼ τs ; ð5bÞ resultants in terms of the local stress resultants as,

Nnl 2 2 nl l
αβ  ðe0 lÞ ∇ N αβ ¼ N αβ ; ð11aÞ
μ07 ¼ μs ð5cÞ

Also, the local stress–strain relations of the bulk material of the M nl 2 2 nl l

αβ  ðe0 lÞ ∇ M αβ ¼ M αβ for α; β ¼ x; y ð11bÞ
nanoplate are
( l ) " #( ) where
sxx E^ νE^ εxx Z
¼ ; ð6aÞ h=2
slyy νE^ E^ εyy Nnl ¼ snl ð12aÞ
αβ αβ zdz;
 h=2

slxy ¼ Gγ xy ð6bÞ Z h=2

M nl
αβ ¼ snl
αβ zdz for α; β ¼ x; y ð12bÞ
where s is the local stress tensor components, εii and γij(i,j ¼x,y)γ ij
l
ij  h=2
are the normal and shear strain components, respectively; also,
The equations of motion, which include both the nonlocal and
E surface energy effects, can be derived using Hamilton0 s principle.
E^ ¼ ; ð7aÞ
1  ν2 For the free vibration analysis, this principle takes the following
form,
E
G¼ ð7bÞ Z t2
2ð1 þ νÞ
ðδK  δWÞdt ¼ 0 ð13Þ
where E and ν are Young0 s modulus and Poison0 s ratio of the t1

nanoplates, respectively. where t1 and t2 are two arbitrary times, δK is the variation of
The local resultant stresses are defined as kinetic energy and δW is the virtual works due to internal forces of
Z h=2 the nanoplate. Using Eq. (1) the variation of kinetic energy is
N lαβ ¼ slαβ dz þ ðssαβ Þjz ¼ h=2  ðssαβ Þjz ¼  h=2 ; ð8aÞ obtained as
 h=2
Z

∂w ∂δw ∂u ∂δu ∂v ∂δv
Z δK ¼ þ þ ρhdA ð14Þ
h=2 ∂t ∂t ∂t ∂t ∂t ∂t
M lαβ ¼ slαβ zdz þ ðssαβ zÞjz ¼ h=2  ðssαβ zÞjz ¼  h=2 ð8bÞ
A

 h=2 where ρ is the mass density of the nanoplate.

where α,β¼ x,y. Using Eq. (12), the virtual works of the internal forces of the
Using the strain–displacement relations (2), the surface layer nanoplates can be stated as
constitutive relations (4) and the local constitutive relations (6), Z Z h=2
the local stress resultants can be expressed in terms of the δW ¼ ðsnl
xx δεxx þ syy δεyy þ sxy δγ xy ÞdzdA
nl nl
A  h=2
displacement components as Z 


∂δu ∂w ∂δw nl ∂δv ∂w ∂δw
^ þ 2ð2μs þ λs Þε0 þ½νEh
^ þ 2ðτs þ λs Þε0 ; ¼ N nl þ þ N þ
N lxx ¼ 2τs þ½Eh xx yy ð9aÞ A
xx
∂x ∂x ∂x yy
∂y ∂y ∂y


∂δu ∂δv ∂w ∂δw ∂w ∂δw
^ þ 2ð2μs þ λs Þε0 þ ½νEh
N lyy ¼ 2τs þ ½Eh ^ þ 2ðτs þ λs Þε0 ; ð9bÞ þN nl
xy þ þ þ
yy xx ∂y ∂x ∂x ∂y ∂y ∂x

2
∂ δw 2
nl ∂ δw
2
nl ∂ δw
N lxy ¼ ½Gh þ 2ð2μs  τs Þγ 0xy ; ð9cÞ M nl
xx  M yy 2M xy dA ð15Þ
∂x2 ∂y2 ∂x∂y
" # " #
2
h ∂2 w
2
∂2 w Inserting Eqs. (14) and (15) into Eq. (13) and using the
s h
M lxx ¼  D þ ð2μ þλ Þ s s s
 νD þ ðτ þ λ Þ ; ð9dÞ constitutive relations (9) and (11), one obtains the equations of
2 ∂x 2 2 ∂y2
motion in terms of the displacement components as,
" # " #
2 2 
2 2 
^ þ 2Es Þ ∂ u þ ∂w ∂ w þ ðνEh^ þ Ghþ 2Es Þ ∂ v þ ∂w ∂ w
2 2
h ∂2 w s h ∂2 w
M lyy ¼  D þð2μs þ λs Þ  νD þ ðτ s
þ λ Þ ; ð9eÞ ðEh
2 ∂y 2 2 ∂x2 ∂x2 ∂x ∂x2 ∂y∂x ∂y ∂y∂x

2 2 
∂ u ∂w ∂ w ∂2 u
þ ½Ghþ 2ð2μs τs Þ þ ¼ ½1  ðe0 lÞ2 ∇2 ρh 2 ð16Þ
2 ∂2 w ∂y2 ∂x ∂y2 ∂t
M lxy ¼ ½Dð1  νÞ þ h ð2μs τs Þ ð9f Þ
∂x∂y


2 2 
^ þ 2Es Þ ∂2 v ∂w ∂2 w ^ þ Gh þ 2Es Þ ∂ u þ ∂w ∂ w
where D ¼Eh3/(12(1  ν2)) is the flexural rigidity of the nanoplate. ðEh þ þ ðνEh
∂y2 ∂y ∂y2 ∂x∂y ∂x ∂x∂y
Based on Eringen0 s nonlocal elasticity theory [32–34], the stress
2 2 
at a reference point is assumed to be a functional of the strain field ∂ v ∂w ∂ w ∂2 v
þ ½Ghþ 2ð2μs τs Þ þ ¼ ½1  ðe0 lÞ2 ∇2 ρh 2 ð17Þ
at every point in the body. In this way, the internal characteristic ∂x 2 ∂y ∂x 2
∂t
length can be considered in the constitutive relations simply as a !
 

2
material parameter by the following differential constitutive rela- h Es ∂4 w ∂4 w ∂4 w 2 2 ∂ nl ∂w
Dþ þ2 þ  ½1  ðe 0 lÞ ∇  N xx
tion 2 ∂x4 ∂x2 ∂y2 ∂y4 ∂x ∂x




½1  ðe0 lÞ2 ∇2 snl ∂ ∂w ∂ ∂w ∂ ∂w
ij ¼ sij ;
l
ð10aÞ þ N nl þ N nl þ N nl
xy xy yy
∂x ∂y ∂y ∂x ∂y ∂y
∂2 ∂2 ∂2 ∂2 w
∇2 ¼ þ 2 þ 2 for i; j ¼ x; y ð10bÞ þ ρh½1  ðe0 lÞ2 ∇2  ¼0 ð18Þ
∂x ∂y
2 ∂z ∂t 2
where snlij is the nonlocal stress tensor components, e0 denotes a where Es ¼ 2μs þ λs.
material constant and l is the internal characteristic length of the In this study, nanoplates with simply supported, clamped and
nanoplate. some combinations of these boundary conditions are considered.
Using the nonlocal constitutive relation (10) and the stress The related conditions for the nanoplates with the simply sup-
resultant definitions (8), one can express the nonlocal stress ported or clamped boundary conditions along the edges become,
 P. Malekzadeh et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 78 (2014) 48–56 51

!
Simply supported (S) along the edges: Nξ Nη
þ  tan θ ∑ Aξim wmj þ sec θ ∑ Aηjn win
w ¼ 0; ð19aÞ m¼1 n¼1
!#
Nξ Nξ Nη
un ¼ nx u þ ny v ¼ 0; ð19bÞ   tan θ ∑ Bξim wmj þ sec θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim wmn
m¼1 m¼1n¼1
"
us ¼  ny u þnx v ¼ 0; ð19cÞ Nξ
þ ½Gh þ 2ð2μs  τs Þ tan 2 θ ∑ Bξim umj
m¼1
M nl 2 nl nl 2 nl
nn ¼ nx M xx þ nx ny M xy þ ny M yy ¼ 0 ð19dÞ
Nη Nξ Nη
Clamped (C) along the edges: þ sec2 θ ∑ Bηjn uin  2 sec θ tan θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim umn
n¼1 m¼1n¼1
w ¼ 0; ð20aÞ !
Nξ Nξ
þ ∑ Aξim wmj tan 2 θ ∑ Bξim wmj
un ¼ 0; ð20bÞ m¼1 m¼1
!#
Nη Nξ Nη
us ¼ 0; ð20cÞ þ sec2 θ ∑ Bηjn win  2 sec θ tan θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim wmn
n¼1 m¼1n¼1

∂w ∂w ∂w 2
d uij Nξ 2
d umj
¼ nx þ ny ¼0 ð20dÞ ¼ ρh 2  ρhðe0 lÞ2 ∑ Bξim
∂n ∂x ∂y
dt m¼1 dt 2
where n and s represent the normal and tangent to the boundary Nξ 2 Nη
d umj
of the nanoplate as shown in Fig. 1; also, nx and ny are the x and y- þ tan 2 θ ∑ Bξim 2
þ sec2 θ ∑ Bηjn uin
components of the unit normal vector along the nanoplate m¼1 dt n¼1
!
Nξ Nη 2
boundaries, respectively. d umn
 2 sec θ tan θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim ð22Þ
Since it is not possible to obtain the analytical solution for the m¼1n¼1 dt 2
system of coupled partial differential equations stated above
subjected to the related boundary conditions, an approximate Eq. (17):
method should be employed to solve the problem. On the other "
Nξ Nη
hand, the DQM is an efficient and accurate numerical approach ^ þ 2Es Þ tan 2 θ ∑ Bξ vmj þ sec2 θ ∑ Bη vin
ðEh im jn
m¼1 n¼1
compared with the weighted residual methods like the finite
Nξ Nη
element method (FEM). Usually the weak form of the governing
 2 sec θ tan θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim vmn
equations is solved in using the FEM, while the DQM discretizes m¼1n¼1
the strong form of the governing equations. Furthermore, vice !
Nξ Nη Nξ
versa of the FEM, the DQM exactly satisfies all types of boundary þ  tan θ ∑ Aξim wmj þ sec θ ∑ Aηjn win tan 2 θ ∑ Bξim wmj
m¼1 n¼1 m¼1
conditions in their strong form. Also, the advantage of the DQM
over the other meshless methods is its simplicity and low !#
Nη Nξ Nη
computational efforts. In this work, this numerical method is þ sec2 θ ∑ Bηjn win  2 sec θ tan θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim wmn
n¼1 m¼1n¼1
employed to discretize the spatial derivatives. Since the two- "
dimensional computational domain of the DQM is a rectangular Nξ
^ þGh þ 2Es Þ  tan θ ∑ Bξ umj
þ ðνEh
one, the following geometrical transformation rules are used to im
m¼1
transform the physical skewed domain to the computational !
Nξ Nη Nξ
rectangular domain, þ sec θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim umn þ ∑ Aξim wmj
m¼1n¼1 m¼1
x ¼ ξ þ η sin α; ð21aÞ !#
Nξ Nξ Nη
y ¼ η cos α ð21bÞ   tan θ ∑ Bξim wmj þ sec θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim wmn
m¼1 m¼1n¼1
where α is the skew angle of the nanoplate (see Fig. 1). "
Nξ Nξ
A general grid generation rule of DQM is that of equally spaced þ ½Ghþ 2ð2μs  τs Þ ∑ Bξim vmj þ  tan θ ∑ Aξim wmj
m¼1 m¼1
points. However, a better choice is that corresponding to zeros of ! !#
the orthogonal polynomials such as the zeros of the Chebyshev Nη Nξ

polynomials. In this study, this type of grid generation rule is used þ sec θ ∑ Aηjn win ∑ Bξim wmj
n¼1 m¼1
[37–43]. In the computational domain, Nξ and Nη grid points are 2 2 2
d vij Nξ d vmj Nξ d vmj
selected along the ξ- and η-directions, respectively. ¼ ρh 2  ρhðe0 lÞ2 ∑ Bξim þ tan 2 θ ∑ Bξim
2
When using the conventional DQM, a special procedure is dt m¼1 dt m¼1 dt 2
necessary to implement the multiple boundary conditions due to !
Nη 2 Nξ Nη 2
d vin d vmn
the higher-order derivatives of the transverse displacement com- þ sec2 θ ∑ Bηjn  2 sec θ tan θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim
n¼1 dt 2 m¼1n¼1 dt 2
ponent [38,42,43]. Hence, in this work, the approach introduced
by Karami and Malekzadeh [43] is adopted to enforce the ð23Þ
boundary conditions. Based on this approach, the transformed Eq. (18):
equations of motion become, ! !
Nξ Nη
Eq. (16): ξ η
F 1ij ∑ Dim wmj þ Bξi1 K ξ1j þ BξiNξ K ξNξ j þ F 2ij ∑ Djn win þ Bηj1 K ηi1 þ BηjNη K ηiNη
" ! !# m¼1 n¼1
Nξ Nξ Nξ
^
ðEhþ 2Es Þ ∑ Bξ umj þ ∑ Aξ wmj ∑ Bξ wmj !
im im im Nξ Nη Nη
m¼1 m¼1 m¼1 ξ
þ F 3ij ∑ ∑ Aηjn C im wmn þ ∑ Aηjn ðAξi1 K ξ1n þ AξiNξ K ξNξ n Þ
^ þ Gh þ 2Es Þ
þ ðνEh m¼1n¼1 n¼1
" " #
Nξ Nξ Nη Nξ Nη Nξ
η
  tan θ ∑ Bξim vmj þsec θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim vmn þ F 4ij ∑ ∑ Aξim C jn wmn þ ∑ Aξim ðAηj1 K ηm1 þAηjNη K ηmNη Þ
m¼1 m¼1n¼1 m¼1n¼1 m¼1
52 P. Malekzadeh et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 78 (2014) 48–56

!
Nξ Nη Nη Nξ Nη One of the usually used algorithms to find the nonlinear
þ F 5ij ∑ ∑ Bξim Bηjn wmn  F 6ij ∑ Bξjn win  F 7ij ∑ ∑ Aξim Aηjn wmn frequency of the vibratory systems is the harmonic balance
m¼1n¼1 n¼1 m¼1n¼1
method [39,43]. Based on this approach, the nonlinear system
Nξ 2 Nξ 2
ξ d wij d wmj undergoes a harmonic motion, which is reasonable in many cases
 ðN nl 2
ηη Þij sec θ ∑ Bim wmj þ ρh  ρhðe0 lÞ2 ∑ Bξim
m¼1 dt 2 m¼1 dt 2 particularly for moderate vibration amplitudes. Hence, the vectors
Nξ 2 Nη 2
of degrees of freedom can be represented as,
d wmj d win
þ tan 2 θ ∑ Bξim þ sec2 θ ∑ Bηjn
2 fwg ¼ fWg cos ðωtÞ ð29Þ
m¼1 dt n¼1 dt 2
!
Nξ Nη 2
d wmn where {W} is the vector of generalized amplitudes of the motion.
 2 sec θ tan θ ∑ ∑ Aηjn Aξim ¼0 ð24Þ Inserting from Eq. (29) into Eq. (28) and applying the harmonic
m¼1n¼1 dt 2
balance method results in the following frequency-domain equa-
where Aαij and Bαij ðα ¼ ξ; ηÞ are the weighting coefficients of the first tion of motion [39,43],
and second-order spatial derivatives, respectively [37,38]; also the

3
α α
definitions of Dim and C im ðα ¼ ξ; ηÞ; and F βij ðβ ¼ 1; …; 7Þ are as fol- ½SLww  þ ½SNL 2
ww ðWÞ fW g  ω ½M ww fW g ¼ f0g ð30Þ
4
lows, respectively,
An iterative method should be used to solve the system of
α Nα  1
C ij ¼ ∑ Aαim Bαmj ; ð25aÞ nonlinear eigenvalue Eq. (30). In order to solve these equations,
m¼2 the nonlinear terms are set to zero first and the resulting linear
eigenvalue problem is solved. Then the linear eigenvectors are
α Nα  1
Dim ¼ ∑ Bαim Bαmj ð25bÞ used to obtain nonlinear coefficients. The eigenvalue problem is
m¼2 solved again to obtain the nonlinear eigenvalues and eigenvectors.
The iterative procedure for a given value of the transverse
2
F 1ij ¼ ðD þ h Es =2Þð1 þ tan 2 θ þ tan 4 θÞ þ ðe0 lÞ2 ½ðN nl
ξξ Þij displacement amplitude continues until the nonlinear frequency
þ ðN nl 2 2 2 nl 3 values from the two subsequent iterations ‘e’ and ‘eþ 1’ satisfy the
ηη Þij tan θð1 þ tan θÞ  2ðe0 lÞ ðN ξη Þij ð tan θ þ tan θÞ;
prescribed convergence criteria as [38,39],
ð26aÞ
jωeNLþ 1  ωeNL j=ωeNL rε0 ð31Þ
2 s
F 2ij ¼ ðD þ h E =2 þ ðe0 lÞ 2
ðN nl
ηη Þij Þsec
4
θ; ð26bÞ
where ωiNL ði
¼ e; e þ1Þ is the nonlinear natural frequency at itera-
2
tion ‘i’ and ε0 is a small value number and in the present analysis
F 3ij ¼  4ðD þ h Es =2Þð1 þ tan 2 θÞsec θ tan θ  2ðe0 lÞ2 ½ðN nl
ξξ Þij has a value of 10  4.
þ ðN nl
ηη Þij ð1 þ 2 tan 2 θÞsec θ tan θ þ 2ðe0 lÞ2 ðN nl
ξη Þij ð1

þ 3 tan 2 θÞsec θ tan θ; ð26cÞ 3. Numerical results

2
F 4ij ¼  4ðD þ h Es =2 þ ðe0 lÞ2 ðNnl 3 2 nl 3
ηη Þij Þsec θ tan θ þ 2ðe0 lÞ ðN ξη Þij sec θ; In this section, firstly, the accuracy of the presented formula-
ð26dÞ tion and the method of solution (i.e., DQM) for the nonlinear free
vibration of the nanoplates are demonstrated by performing the
2
F 5ij ¼ 2ðD þ h Es =2Þð1 þ 3 tan 2 θÞsec2 θ þ ðe0 lÞ2 ½ðN nl
ξξ Þij convergence study and comparing the solution in the limit cases
with the other available results in the open literature. For this
þ ðN nl
ηη Þij ð1 þ 3 tan 2 θÞsec2 θ  6ðe0 lÞ2 ðN nl 2 2
ξη Þij sec θ tan θ;
purpose and for the parameter studies, otherwise specified, the
ð26eÞ following material properties are used,

F 6ij ¼ ðNnl 2 E ¼ 76 GPa; ν ¼ 0:3; ρ ¼ 2700 kg=m3 ; τs ¼ 0:89 N=m;

ξξ Þij ð1  2 tan θ þ tan θÞ; ð26f Þ
μs ¼ 0:47 N=m; λs ¼ 0:28 N=m
F 7ij ¼ ðNnl
ξη Þij ðsec θ  2 sec θ tan θÞ ð26gÞ Also, the boundary conditions of the nanoplates are specified
Also, ( )ij means the function value at the grid points (ξi, ηj) and by the letter symbols, for example, C-S-C-S indicates that the

2  edges ξ¼ 0 and ξ ¼1 have the clamped and the edges η ¼0 and η ¼1
∂ w have the simply supported boundary conditions, respectively.
K αij ¼ for α ¼ ξ; η ð27Þ
∂α2 ij
Table 1
In a similar manner, the DQ discretized form of the transformed The convergence behavior of the nonlinear non-dimensional fundamental fre-
boundary conditions can be obtained [38]. pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
quency parameter ðω ¼ ωa2 ρh=DÞ of the clamped skew nanoplates including
Usually the inertia forces due to the in-plane displacement surface effect (a ¼20 nm, h ¼ 2 nm, a/b¼ 1, μ ¼e0l/a ¼0.1).
components can be neglected in comparison with those of the
transverse displacement [38,39,43]. Hence, after eliminating the Nξ ¼ Nη Wc/h ¼ 0.5 Wc/h ¼1 Wc/h ¼1.5 Wc/h ¼ 0.5 Wc/h ¼1 Wc/h ¼1.5

boundary degrees of freedom and also the in-plane displacement

α ¼0 α ¼15
components from the discretized form of the transverse equations
of motion (see Ref. [38] for more details), one obtains a system of 7 39.9228 44.9934 53.0295 41.8887 47.0792 55.3103
nonlinear ordinary differential equations in temporal domain as, 9 40.2193 45.3413 52.7394 42.2845 47.8512 55.8638
( ) 11 40.2295 45.3932 52.8973 42.3010 47.891 55.9942
2
d w 15 40.2293 45.3905 52.8953 42.3000 47.8878 55.9923
½M ww  þ ð½SLww  þ ½SNL
ww ðwÞÞfwg ¼ f0g ð28Þ
dt 2 α ¼30 α ¼45

where {w} represents the domain degrees of freedom. Also, the 7 48.5116 53.4200 60.9919 64.6002 68.0814 73.1365
mass matrices [Mww] and the linear and nonlinear stiffness 9 49.6031 56.7851 67.0737 66.6547 77.8440 94.2832
matrices ½SLww  and ½SNL
ww  are obtained from the related discretized
11 49.6092 56.8051 67.1509 66.8914 78.4992 94.9346
15 49.6063 56.8053 67.1634 66.9249 78.6150 95.1634
form of the governing equations based on the definition of the 19 49.6063 56.8052 67.1633 66.9262 78.6210 95.1804
degrees of freedom vector {w}.
 P. Malekzadeh et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 78 (2014) 48–56 53

As a first example, the convergence of the results for the funda- frequencies of simply supported rectangular nanoplates with
mental frequency parameter of the clamped skew nanoplates against those of the exact solution obtained by Wang and Wang [29] are
the DQ grid points along the ξ- and η-direction are presented in made in Table 3. It is evident that only seven grid points is
Table 1. The results are prepared for different values of the amplitude sufficient to get the accurate results for the different values of
ratio and skew angle. In all cases, the fast rate of the convergence of the nonlocal parameter (μ¼e0l/a). After validating the formulation
the method can be observed. In the all solved examples, Wc stands for and method of solution, parametric studies are carried out to
the amplitude of the nanoplate center transverse displacement. investigate the influences of the free surface energy and nonlocal
In the next example, the present formulation is validated by parameter in combination with the other parameters and bound-
comparing the results for the nonlinear to linear frequency ratio of ary conditions on the nonlinear vibration behavior of the skew
the clamped thin square plates with those of the hierarchical finite nanoplates.
element method (HFEM) obtained by Ribeiro [44] in Table 2. The To investigate the influences of the surface and nonlocal effects
comparison studies are performed for the different values of the together with the geometrical nonlinearity on the vibration
amplitude ratio (Wc/h). Excellent agreement between the results behavior of the skew nanoplates, three normalized natural fre-
of the two approaches can be observed which demonstrates the quencies are defined as follows
accuracy of the method of solution. ωnonlinear with surface and nonlocal effect ω
Since there is no available result for the free vibration analysis λns ¼ ; λn ¼ nonlinear with nonlocal effect ;
ωlinear with surface and nonlocal effect ωlinear with nonlocal effect
of skew nanoplates which include both the surface and nonlocal
ωnonlinear with surface effect
effects, comparisons between the results for the linear natural λs ¼ :
ωlinear with surface effect

The variations of normalized natural frequency λns against the

Table 2 length of the nanoplates and for the different values of the skew
Convergence and accuracy of the DQM in predicting the non-dimensional funda- angle are shown in Fig. 2. In this example, the skew nanoplates
mental frequency ratio (ωNL/ωL)n of the clamped plates (a/b¼ 1, h/a ¼0.001). with fully clamped and simply supported boundary conditions are
considered. In order to more clear the influences of the free
Wc/h Nξ ¼ Nη HFEM
[44] surface energy, a fixed thickness value is assumed. It can be seen
7 9 13 19 21 that for both cases, by increasing the nanoplate length (a) or
decreasing the skew angle, the impact of geometrical nonlinearity
nn
0.6078 1.0592 (4) 1.0646 (4) 1.0647 (6) 1.0647 (5) 1.0647 (5) 1.0647
decreases.
1.0012 1.1614 (7) 1.1666 (4) 1.1668 (6) 1.1668 (5) 1.1668 (5) 1.1668
A comparison between the effects of the free surface energy,
n
ωNL and ωL are the nonlinear and linear natural frequency of the plate. small scale parameter and combination of these parameters
nn
The values in the parenthesis represent the number of iterations. together with the large deformation effect (geometrical nonlinear-
ity) on the vibration characteristics of the skew nanoplates under
different boundary conditions are shown in Figs. 3–5. For this
Table 3 purpose, the variations of the frequency ratios against the ampli-
The convergence behavior and accuracy of the linear non-dimensional fundamental tude ratio and for different values of the skew angle of the
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
frequency parameter ðω ¼ ωa2 ρh=DÞ of simply supported nanoplates including nanoplate are presented in Fig. 3 for the simply supported skew
surface and nonlocal effects (a¼ 20 nm, a/b¼ 1, h ¼ 2 nm). nanoplates, in Fig. 4 for the clamped skew nanoplates and in Fig. 5
for the S-C-S-C skew nanoplates, respectively. From these figures,
μ ¼e0l/a Nξ ¼ Nη Exact [29]
one can conclude that the geometrical nonlinearity should be
7 9 11 15 19 included when the vibration amplitude is in the order of the
nanoplate thickness and its effect increases by increasing the
0 25.6738 25.6736 25.6736 25.6736 25.6736 25.6736
amplitude ratio. In addition, it is obvious that both the free surface
0.1 24.3330 24.3328 24.3328 24.3328 24.3328 24.3328
0.2 21.9020 21.9018 21.9018 21.9018 21.9018 21.9018 energy and the small scale parameter have a great influence on the
nonlinear behavior of the skew nanoplates.

1.42 1.26
α =0o α =0o
α =15o α =15o
Normalized natural frequency
Normalized natural frequency

1.34 α =30o α =30o

1.20
α =45 o α =45 o
1.26

1.14

1.18

1.08
1.10

1.02 1.02
20 40 60 80 100 20 40 60 80 100
a (nm) a (nm)
Fig. 2. (a) and (b) The variations of normalized natural frequency λns against the skew nanoplate length for the simply supported and clamped skew nanoplates (μ¼ 0.1, b/
a¼ 1, h ¼ 2 nm, Wc/h ¼ 1). (a) Simply supported, (b) Clamped.
54 P. Malekzadeh et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 78 (2014) 48–56

2.05 2.40
α =0o α =30
o
α =15o α =45o
λs λs

Normalized natural frequency

Normalized natural frequency

2.12
1.84 λns λns
λn λn
1.63 1.84

1.42 1.56

1.21 1.28

1.00 1.00
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5
Wc /h Wc /h

Fig. 3. (a) and (b) The variations of normalized natural frequency against the amplitude ratio of the clamped skew nanoplates (μ¼ 0.1, b/a¼ 1, a ¼20 nm, h ¼2 nm).

2.44
α =0o α =30o 2.68 α =15o α =45o
λs λs
Normalized natural frequency
Normalized natural frequency

2.08 λns 2.40 λns

λn λn
2.12

1.72
1.84

1.56
1.36
1.28

1.00 1.00
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5
Wc /h Wc /h

Fig. 4. (a) and (b) The variations of normalized natural frequency against the amplitude ratio of the simply supported skew nanoplates (μ¼ 0.1, b/a¼ 1, a ¼20 nm, h ¼2 nm).

2.20 2.45
α =0
o
α =30o α =15o α =45o
λs λs
Normalized natural frequency

Normalized natural frequency

1.96 2.16
λ ns λ ns
λn λn
1.72 1.87

1.48 1.58

1.24 1.29

1.00 1.00
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5
Wc /h Wc /h

Fig. 5. (a) and (b) The variations of normalized natural frequency against amplitude ratio of the S-C-S-C skew nanoplates (μ¼ 0.1, b/a¼ 1, a¼ 20 nm, h ¼ 2 nm).

In Fig. 6, the effect of the small scale parameter on the nonlinear obvious that increasing the small scale parameter, the influence of
vibration behavior of the simply supported and clamped skew geometrical nonlinearity increases. Also, for the larger skew angles,
nanoplates is exhibited for different values of the skew angles. It is this effect increase monotonically.
 P. Malekzadeh et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 78 (2014) 48–56
1.58
o o
=0
o o
=15
Normalized natural frequency
=30o
1.50
=45 o
1.42
1.34
1.26
0.00 0.05 0.10
μ μ
Fig. 6. (a) and (b) The variations of normalized natural λns against the nonlocal parameter and amplitude ratio of the clamped skew nanoplates (b/a¼ 1, a¼ 20 nm, h ¼ 2 nm,
Wc/h ¼ 1). (a)S-S-S-S, (b) C-C-C-C
4. Conclusions
In this work, the free surface energy and small scale effect
together with geometrical nonlinearity on the vibration behavior
of skew nanoplates are investigated. The formulations are derived
by using the surface and nonlocal elasticity theories together with
the classical plate theory. The geometrical nonlinearity is modeled
by employing Green0 s strain tensor in conjunction with von
Kármán assumptions. Accurate approximate solution for skew
nanoplates with arbitrary boundary conditions is developed by
using the differential quadrature method. The effects of free
surface energy, small scale parameter, amplitude ratio and skew
angles on the fundamental nonlinear natural frequency of skew
nanoplates subjected to different boundary conditions are inves-
tigated. It is shown that both the free surface energy and small
scale parameter have significant effect on the nonlinear vibration
behavior of the skew nanoplates. In addition, these parameters
and the skew angle increase the influence of geometrical non-
linearity on the vibration behavior of skew nanoplates.
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