Nonlinear secondary resonance of nanobeams under subharmonic and superharmonic excitations including surface free energy effects

The main objective of this study is to predict both the subharmonic and superharmonic resonances of the nonlinear oscillation of nanobeams in the presence of surface free energy effects. To this purpose, Gurtin-Murdoch elasticity theory is adopted to the classical beam theory in order to consider the surface Lame constants, surface mass density, and residual surface stress within the differential equations of motion. The Galerkin method together with the method of multiple scales is utilized to investigate the size-dependent response of nanobeams under hard excitations corresponding to various boundary conditions. A parametric analysis is carried out to indicate the influence of the surface elastic parameters on the frequency-response as well as amplitude-response of the nonlinear secondary resonance including multiple vibration modes and interactions between them. It is seen that for the superharmonic excitation, except for the clamped-free boundary condition, the jump phenomenon is along the hardening direction, while in the clamped-free end supports, it is along the softening direction. Moreover, it is revealed that for the subharmonic excitation, within a specific range of the excitation amplitude, the nanobeam is excited, and this range shifts to lower external force by incorporating the surface free energy effects. It is found that in the case of superharmonic excitation, the value of the excitation frequency associated with the bifurcation point at the peak of the frequency-response curve increases by taking the surface free energy effect into consideration. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.