Search

In the paper ( Zaera, Serrano, & Fernandez-Saez, 2019 ) it is claimed that the nonlocal strain gradient theory (NSGT) leads to ill-posed structural problems. This conclusion was motivated by observing that Constitutive Boundary Conditions (CBC) conflict with non-standard Kinematic and Static Higher-Order Boundary Conditions (KHOBC) - (SHOBC). In the present study, it is shown that no ill-posedness holds if NSGT is established by an adequate variational formulation, with appropriate test fields. KHOBC and SHOBC have nothing to do with the proper mathematical formulation and thus they have not to be prescribed, while standard kinematic and static boundary conditions and CBC have to be imposed to close the relevant nonlocal gradient problem. This conclusion follows from a well-posed abstract variational scheme conceived for nonlocal gradient inflected beams. The treatment provides as special cases most of the size-dependent models adopted in Engineering Science to assess size-effects in nanostructures, such as NSGT, strain-driven and stress-driven local-nonlocal elasticity approaches. Additionally, a well-posed Nonlocal Stress Gradient (NStressG) model is presented, coupling the stress-driven nonlocal strategy (Romano and Barretta, 2017) with the stress gradient elasticity. The presented methodology is elucidated and validated by investigating the structural behavior of a variety of inflected nano-beams of nanotechnological interest, such as sensors and actuators. NStressG is able to predict both softening and hardening nonlocal responses and, unlike the special stress gradient elasticity model, leads to well-posed structural problems in Nanomechanics.

The stress-driven nonlocal integral model of elasticity for 1D nano-structures (Romano & Barretta, 2017a) is extended in this paper to Kirchhoff axisymmetric nano-plates. The nonlocal formulation, relating elastic principal flexural curvatures and moments, provides an effective methodology to assess size effects in 2D nano-structures. The associated elastostatic problem of nano-plates is conveniently expressed by differential relations equipped with constitutive boundary conditions involving nonlocal curvature fields. The proposed approach is illustrated by examining case-studies of engineering interest. In particular, nonlocal displacement solutions of axisymmetric nano-plates are detected for a variety of loading systems and kinematic boundary conditions. Merits and implications of the stress-driven strategy are elucidated by comparing the achieved results with those of the strain gradient model of elasticity generated by Reissner's variational principle. The outcomes can be useful for design and optimization of plate-like components of ground-breaking Nano-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (NEMS).

Curved beams are basic structural components of Nano-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (NEMS) whose design requires appropriate modelling of scale effects. In the present paper, the size-dependent static behaviour of curved elastic nano-beams is investigated by stress-driven nonlocal continuum mechanics. Axial strain and flexural curvature fields are integral convolutions between equilibrated axial force and bending moment fields and an averaging kernel. The nonlocal integral methodology formulated here is the generalization to curved structures of the treatment in [Int. J. Eng. Science 115 (2017) 14–27] confined to straight beams. The corresponding nonlocal differential problem, supplemented with non-standard boundary conditions, is highlighted and shown to lead to mathematically well-posed problems of nano-engineering. The theoretical predictions, exhibiting stiffening nonlocal behaviours, are therefore appropriate to significantly model a wide range of small-scale devices of nanotechnological interest. The nonlocal approach is exploited by analytically establishing size-dependent responses of curved elastic nano-sensors and nano-actuators that are driven by the small-scale characteristic parameter.

An effective nonlocal integral formulation for functionally graded Bernoulli-Euler beams in nonisothermal environment is developed. Both thermal and mechanical loadings are accounted for. The proposed model, of stress-driven integral type, is shown to be governed by a thermodynamically consistent differential problem with proper constitutive boundary conditions. The new thermoelastic strategy is illustrated by investigating a set of examples. It is demonstrated that in nonisothermal statically indeterminate problems rather complex structural behaviours can appear and that both the shift of the neutral surface and nonlocality have a dominating influence at small-scales.