Nonlinear electro-dynamic analysis of micro-actuators: Effect of material nonlinearity

This paper presents a nonlinear dynamic analysis of a micro-actuator made of nonlinear elasticity materials. The theoretical formulations are based on Bernoulli-Euler beam theory and include the effects of mid-plane stretching due to large deformation and material non-linearity. By employing Linstedt-Poincare perturbation method, the nonlinear governing equation is transformed into a set of linear differential equations which are then solved using Galerkin's method. Numerical results show that the linear constitutive relationship used in previous studies is valid for small deformation only whereas for large deformation, the nonlinear elasticity constitutive relationship must be used for accurate analysis. The effects of initial gap and beam length on the nonlinear electro-dynamic behavior of the micro-actuator are also discussed. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.