Nonlinear damping in suspended beam micro- and nanoresonators due to surface loss

The nonlinear damping resulting from surface energy loss in suspended beam micro and nanoresonators is investigated theoretically. Surface energy loss is known to be a relevant and in some cases a dominant damping mechanism in micro and nanoresonators. So far, it was only investigated in the linear (low amplitude) regime. In this work we consider the beam as made of an anelastic material and introduce the beam stretching effect in the elastic model of transversally vibrating beams clamped at both ends. This model results in a nonlinear contribution to the damping. Analytical expressions for the resulting amplitude dependent quality factor and the nonlinear damping parameter in a reduced order model are derived. Large nonlinear damping is predicted when the amplitude of transversal vibration is comparable to the beam thickness, which can be relevant to the beam dynamics. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.