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Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 74 (2013) 2229

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Finite Elements in Analysis and Design


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A nite element model for the bending and vibration of nanoscale


plates with surface effect
K.F. Wang, B.L. Wang n
Graduate School at Shenzhen, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, PR China

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 19 December 2012
Received in revised form
10 April 2013
Accepted 11 May 2013
Available online 21 June 2013

A continuum nite element model for the nanoscale plates considering the surface effect of the material
is developed. Governing equations for Kirchoff and Mindlin nanoplates are derived by using the Galerkin
nite element technique. The model is veried by comparing the results with available analytical
solutions. The results indicate that, depending on the boundary conditions, the deections and
frequencies of the plate have a dramatic dependence on the residual surface stress and surface elasticity
of the plates. The present model is an efcient tool for the analysis of the static and dynamic mechanical
behaviors of nanoscale plates with complex geometry, boundary and loading conditions and material
properties.
& 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Nanoscale plate
Finite element method
Surface residual stress
Surface elasticity

1. Introduction
Nanoscale plates are key components of actuators and sensors
for nano-electromechanical system (NEMS) [1]. Naturally, it is
importance to understand the static and dynamic mechanical
behaviors of these advanced materials and structures for the
design and manufacture of NEMS. Due to their high surface-tovolume ratio, structures at nanoscale show signicant sizedependent behavior [24]. Therefore, the surface effect must be
considered for the analysis of materials and structures at nanoscale. Some researchers applied atomistic simulation to study the
size-dependent properties of nanostructures [57]. However, this
method is difcult to apply to the analysis of NEMS with complex
geometries, due to the limit of the available computational power.
It is essential to nd an efcient tool to analyze the mechanics
behavior of nanoscale structures. Gurtin and Murdoch [8,9]
proposed a modied continuum theory which incorporates the
surface/interface effects into the traditional continuum mechanics.
This theory has been widely used to study the mechanics response
of nanoscale structures. For examples, Lim and He [10] proposed a
continuum model to analyze the bending behaviors of thin elastic
nanoplate of nanoscale thickness. Lu et al. [11] proposed a sizedependent thin plate model by complementing Lim and He's
model. Liu and Rajapakse [12] studied the static and dynamic
response of nanoscale beams based on the GurtinMurdoch
theory. Assadi et al. [13] studied the size-dependent dynamic

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 755 26033490.


E-mail addresses: wangbl2001@hotmail.com, wangbl@hitsz.edu.cn (B.L. Wang).

0168-874X/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nel.2013.05.007

response of nanoplates by using the GurtinMurdoch theory.


Wang and Feng [14,15] studied the inuence of the surface
effect on the buckling and vibration behaviors of nanowires. Fang
et al. [16] studied the inuence of the surface/interface effect
on the dynamic stress of two interacting cylindrical nanoinhomogeneities under compressive waves based on the surface/
interface elasticity theory.
Analytical solutions are impossible for the structures with
complex geometry and boundary conditions. It is necessary to
develop a versatile numerical model, such as, the nite element
(FE) method and the boundary element (BE) method. Wei et al.
[17] proposed a kind of surface element for a two dimensional
continuum FE model to take into account the surface elastic effect
(based on the GurtinMurdoch theory). Tian and Rajapkse [18]
studied the mechanics of nanoscale inhomogeneities in an elastic
matrix by proposed a FE model. Feng et al. [19] developed a 3D FE
model to study the resonant properties of silicon nanowires. Liu
et al. [20] proposed a Galerkin-type nite element of the thin and
thick beam with the surface effect. In addition, Dong and Pan [21]
proposed a BE method to analyze the stress eld in nanoinhomogeneities with the surface/interface effect.
Nanoplates with complex geometry, boundary and loading
conditions are often used in NEMS. Such complicated structural
systems cannot be studied by analytical models. However, an
efcient numerical model is not available at this moment for the
analysis of nanoscale plates. In the present paper, a nite element
model is developed to analyze the bending behavior of nanoplates
with consideration of surface residual stress and surface elasticity.
The present FE model is based on the plate mathematical model
developed by Lu et al. [11] by using the GurtinMurdoch surface

K.F. Wang, B.L. Wang / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 74 (2013) 2229

23

2.1. Static bending of Kirchhoff plate


According to the Kirchhoff plate theory, the displacement
components are u zu3; and u3 w. Using Eq. (2), we obtained
M nx;xx 2M nxy;xy M ny;yy 2xx w;xx yy w;yy q 0
n

where f M ;xx M ;yy M ;xy g D h =2Cs , f w;xx w;yy


2w;xy gT , and the material property matrices D and Cs  are given
in Appendix A. For static bending of the Kirchhoff plate, applying
Galerkin's weighted residual method to Eq. (4) gives
A M nx;xx 2M nxy;xy M ny;yy 2xx w;xx yy w;yy qw dA 0

Using Green's theorem, we get the weak form of Eq. (5) as


A M nx w;xx 2M nxy w;xy M ny w;yy dA
2A xx w;xx yy w;yy w dA A qw dA
Z
Z
Z
V nx nx V ny ny w dS M nx nx M nxy ny w;x dS M nxy nx
S

M ny ny w;y dS 0
n

6
n

where V x M x;x M xy;y and V x M xy;x M y;y .


The boundary conditions are usually expressed in terms of
directions that are normal and tangent to the boundaries. These
are the derivatives in the normal direction w=n and in the
tangential direction w=T. Here n is the outward unit vector
normal to the boundary of the plate, whose components are nx
and ny , T is the unit vector tangent to the boundary of the plate,
whose x and y components are ny and nx . By these denitions,
wn nx wx ny wy , wT ny wx nx wy and n2x n2y 1. The last
two boundary integrals in Eq. (6) can now be written as
Z
M nx nx M nxy ny nx wn ny wT M nxy nx M ny ny ny w;n nx w;T dS

Fig. 1. (a) Four-node plate element; (b) eight-node plate element.

elasticity theory. The accuracy and convergence of the present


nite element model are veried by comparing the results with
the available analytical solutions. The model is used to investigate
the inuence of residual surface stress and surface elasticity on
bending and free vibration of nanoplates with different boundary
conditions.

M nx n2x M ny n2y 2M nxy nx ny wn

M nx nx ny M ny nx ny M nxy n2x n2y wT dS


Z
Z
M nn wn dS M nT wT dS
S

Finally, the weak form Eq. (6) can be rewritten as


2

2. Finite element formulation


The static equilibrium equations for the bulk of the plate
without considering body force are sij;j 0, where sij denote
stresses of the bulk. According to Ref. [8], the surface stresses
satisfy the following relations:
7
7
i;
si3

where i7 denote the surface stresses on the surface S 7 . Using


sij;j 0 and Eq. (1) we can obtain the equilibrium equations of
plate with the surface effect [11]
N ni; q I u i

2a

M n; N 3 J u

2b

R h=2
R h=2
n

where I h=2 dz, J h=2 z2 dz, N ni N i


iR i , M
R h=2
h=2

M h=2

,
and
N

s
dz
and
M

s
z
dz.
ij
ij

h=2 ij
h=2 ij
According to Refs. [4,8], linear constitutive equations for the
surface are
0 C s s ;
where0 ,

C s

3 0 u3;
s

and
are the receptivity, the residual surface
stresses, the surface elastic constants and surface strains. Both 0
and C s can be obtained from atomistic calculations.

h
A T DdA A T Cs dA2A xx wxx yy wyy w dA
Z 2
Z
A qw dA V nn M nT;T w ds M nn wn ds 0
s

where
h
w;xx

w;yy

2w;xy

iT

Consider a four-node nite element with three nodal degrees of


freedom per node, i.e.,w, x and y as shown in Fig. 1(a).
The element nodal displacement vector is
h
iT
ue w1 x1 y1 ::: w4 x4 y4
10
The displacement vector of the element and the vector of
element curvatures are, receptivity, w NT ue and BT ue . Here
the shape function N and the geometry matrix B are given in
Appendix A. Substituting Eq. (9) and the weighting functions
(w-Ni and -BT ) into Eq. (8), we obtain
ke  kb  ks  k 

11

where
kb  A BT DBdA

12a

  h2
A BT Cs BdA
ks
2

12b

24

K.F. Wang, B.L. Wang / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 74 (2013) 2229

k  2xx A N;xx T N dA2yy A N;yy T N dA

12c

The element nodal force vector can be expressed as


RR
T
qe
A qN dA. Assembling the element stiffness and nodal force
vector, the global equilibrium equation of the system can be
obtained as Ku q, where K, u and q denote, respectively, the
global stiffness matrix, the nodal displacement vector and the
nodal force matrix.
2.2. Dynamic behavior of Kirchhoff plate
For dynamic analysis, the deection is interpolated within a
plate element as w NT ue eit . The element mass matrix can be
obtained as
me IA NT NdA

13

where I h. The same interpolation functions as static case are


used to obtain the mass matrix. The global equilibrium equations
for dynamic analysis can be obtained in following form:

MuKu
q

14

where M is global mass matrix. With the substitution of


ut ueit , the free vibration eigenvalue problem can be obtained
from Eq. (14) as
2

K Mu 0

15

2.3. Static bending of Mindlin plate


In the case of Mindlin plates, the shear deformation must be
considered. The governing equations are [11]
M nx;x M nxy;y V x 0

16a

M nxy;x M ny;y V y 0

16b

V x;x V y;y q 2xx wxx yy wyy 0

16c

Applying Galerkin's weighted residual method, the following


weighted residual equation can be obtained from Eq. (16):
A V x;x V y;y q2xx w;xx yy w;yy w
V x M nx;x M nxy;y x V y M nxy;x M ny;y y dA 0

17

where w, x and y are the weight functions. Using Green's


theorem on the derivative terms, we can obtain the following:
2

A G T kGhG dA A b T Db dA

h
A b T Cs b dA
2

2A xx w;xx yy w;yy w dA
Z
Z
Z
A qw dA V n w dS M nn n dS M nT T dS
S

where
"
G
n

M n;xx

Vx

G13

G23

M n;yy

y;y

20

where N i (i 1, 2, , 8) are shape functions, shown in Appendix B.


For convenience, the sets of weighting functions (w, x and y ) are
expressed as the columns of the matrix of interpolation functions
N.
Using Eqs. (18) and (19) and the sets of weighting functions, we
obtained the following element stiffness matrix:
Ke  kG  kb  ks  k 

21

where
kG  A BG T kGhBG dA

22a

kb  A Bb T DBb dA

22b

  h2
A Bb T Cs Bb dA
ks
2

22c

k  2xx A Nw Txx Nw dA2yy A Nw Tyy Nw dA

22d

where BG , Bb  and Nw are shown in Appendix B. In order to avoid


shear locking, the reduced-integration is used to the stiffness term.
In present case, for an eight-node element, the shear stiffness
(22a), the bending stiffness term (22b) and the surface stiffness
term (22c) are obtained by using the 2  2 Gaussian integration
scheme. Finally, the element nodal force vector is qe A qNw T dA.
2.4. Dynamic analysis of Mindlin plate
In the dynamic analysis, the element mass matrix can be
obtained by using the same interpolation functions as the static
case. Therefore the element mass matrix can be expressed as
23
3

where N x and N y are shown in Appendix B. I h and J h =12.


18

3. Numerical results and discussion

oT

Db

2
h  s
C b
2

V y T kGhG

b x;x

where N is the matrix of interpolation functions, which is


2
3
0
N2 0
N1 0
6
0 7
0 N 1 0
N 4 0
5
0
0 N2
0 N1

me  A INw T Nw dA JA Nx T Nx Ny T Ny dA

M n;xy

the boundary of the nanoplate, k is the shear correction coefcient


(k 2 =12) and G is a shear module matrix.
A eight-node plate element is used with three degrees of
freedom per node (w, x and y ), as shown in Fig. 1(b). The
displacement is interpolated by using the shape function as
n
oT
w x y
Nue
19

x;y y;x T

b x;x y;y x;y y;x T


h
iT
G w;x x w;y y
h
iT
G w;x x w;y y
V n V x nx V y ny , n nx x ny y and T ny x nx y . Here
nx and ny are the components of the outward unit vector normal to

In order to assess the accuracy of the developed nite element


method, the static deection and frequency of a simply supported
plate made of Si is computed and compared with the analytical
result. The results from the traditional model are also presented to
get a quantitative assessment of the inuence of surface effects.
It is should be noted that the surface elasticity constants and
residual surface tension can be determined by atomic simulations,
which indicate that the elasticity constants and residual surface
stresses of some materials (i.e. FCC Al, diamond Si) can be either
positive or negative, depending on the crystallographic structure
of the materials. In the present paper, the bulk and surface elastic
constants of Si (100) have been obtained by Shenoy [7] by using
the embedded atom method, and the properties are: E 107 Gpa,
0:33, 0 2:7779 N=m, 0 4:4939 N=m and 0 0:6056
N=m.

K.F. Wang, B.L. Wang / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 74 (2013) 2229

25

3.1. Analytical solution for static bending


According to the Kirchhoff plate theory, for a nanoplate of
isotopic material property, the equilibrium equation can be
expressed as [11]
Def f 4 w20 2 w qx; y
3

24
s 2

where Def f Eh =121 E h =2 and E 20 0 . If the


lateral
loading
applied
on
the
plate
is
qx; y
q0 sin mx=a sin ny=b, we can obtain the deection of the plate
from Eq. (24) as follows:
2

q0 sin mx=a sin ny=b

Def f 4 m=a2 n=b2 2 20 2 m=a2 n=b2 

25

In the case of a uniformly distributed load q0 on the plate, we


can represent q0 in a double trigonometric series as
q0

16q0 3;5;::: 3;5;::: 1


sin mx=a sin ny=b

2 m 1 m 1 mn

26
Fig. 2. Deection of the Kirchhoff nanoplate with simply supported boundary
condition (h 10 nm).

Using Eqs. (25) and (26), we can get


16q0 sin mx=a sin ny=b

3;5;::: 3;5;:::

2
2 2
2
2
4
4
m 1 m 1 mn Def f m=a n=b  2 0 m=a n=b 

27
Eq. (27) is the solution of a plate with surface effect under a
load q0 uniformly distributed.
According to the Mindlin plate theory, for a plate of isotopic
material property, the equilibrium equation can be expressed
as [11]


Def f 2
qx; y 20 2 w
28
Def f 4 w 1
kGh
where k is the shear factor. Following the above process for the
Kirchhoff plate, we can obtain the deection of a Mindlin plate
with the surface effect under a uniformly distributed load q0 as
16q0 1 m=a2 n=b2  sin x=a sin y=b

3;5;::: 3;5;:::

m 1 m 1 mn

4D

ef f 1

20 =k=G=h 2 m=a2 n=b2 2 20 m=a2 n=b2 

29
3.2. Finite element solution for static bending
We chose a square plate whose dimension is a b200 nm.
The deections of the plate based on the Kirchhoff and Mindlin
plate theories are computed by using 14 by 14 elements. For
comparison, the classical solutions which neglect the surface
stress are also presented. Fig. 2 plots the deection of the simply
supported Kirchhoff plate under a uniformly distributed load
q0 1000 kN=m2 . It can be seen that the nite element solution
agrees well with the analytical solution. The relative error is
within 2%. Such accuracy is adequate for most practical applications. It is also found that the surface effect reduces the deection
of the plate, this means that the surface effect makes the plate
stiffer.
Fig. 3 shows the deection of the simply supported Mindlin
plate. Once again, the FEM solution agrees well with the analytical
solution. The relative error is also less than 2%.
In order to show the effect of surface elasticity and residual
surface stress on the deection of plate with different boundary
conditions, the positive surface elasticity constants 0 2:7779 N=m
and 0 4:4939 N=m and negative residual surface stress
0 0:6056 N=m are assumed for the calculation. Figs. 4, 5 and 6
show the deections of plate (at yb/2) with cantilever, simply
supported, and clamped boundary conditions, respectively. It is found
that, for a positive residual surface stress, the cantilever nanoplate
exhibits a softer elastic behavior but the simply supported and

Fig. 3. Deection of the Mindlin nanoplate with simply supported boundary


condition (h 10 nm).

Fig. 4. Deections of a cantilever Kirchhoff nanoplate considering surface elasticity


and residual surface stress (h 15 nm).

26

K.F. Wang, B.L. Wang / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 74 (2013) 2229

Fig. 5. Deections of a simply supported Kirchhoff nanoplate considering surface


elasticity and residual surface stress (h 15 nm).

As shown in Fig. 5, an upward curvature occurs in the simply


supported nanoplate. This leads to a negative curvature and results
in a negative distributed force which decreases the deection of
the nanoplate. For the bending of nanoplates with all edges
clamped, both downward and upward curvatures occur in Fig. 6.
Due to the upward curvature was dominant. Therefore, a positive
residual surface stress (0 4 0) decreases the deection of clamped
nanoplate.
From Figs. 46, we know that a positive surface elasticity
reduces the deections of the nanoplates, but the negative one
increases the deections. Moreover, it is found that the cantilever
plates are most signicantly inuenced by the surface effects,
followed by the simply supported nanoplates, and clamped
nanoplates. Note that the inuence of surface elasticity and
residual surface stress on the deection of the Mindlin plates is
quite similar to that for the Kirchhoff plates. Therefore, the results
for the Mindlin plates are not shown here.
In order to study the inuence of the shear deformation on the
bending deection of the plates, the solutions of the Kirchhoff and
Mindlin plates are plot in Fig. 7. It can be seen that the shear
deformation makes the plate softer. Therefore, the deection of
the Mindlin plate is always larger than that of the Kirchhoff plate.
However, the inuence of the shear deformation on the deection
of the plate decreases with decreasing thickness of the plate.

3.3. Analytical solution for free vibration


Based on the Kirchhoff plate theory, the motion governing
equation can be expressed as [11]

Def f 4 w20 2 w I w

30

where I h. Under the simply supported boundary condition, we


obtained the natural frequency as
s
Def f 2n 2m 2 20 2n 2m
; n; m 1; 2
31
nm
I

Fig. 6. Deections of a clamped Kirchhoff nanoplate considering surface elasticity


and residual surface stress (h 15 nm).

clamped nanoplates exhibit a stiffer elastic behavior (vice versa for a


negative residual surface stress). The similar phenomenon has been
found for the bending of nanowires [22]. This phenomenon can be

explained by LaplaceYoung equations s


ij sij ni nj 0 , where ni
is the unit vector normal to the surface. From LaplaceYoung
equations, it can be seen that the signs of the curvature and
residual surface stress 0 during the static bending of the nanoplates
determine the stiffer or softer behavior of nanoplates. If the signs of
the curvature and residual surface stress 0 are the same, it can
result in a positive distributed transverse force (which has the same
direction with the external load and will increase the deection of
the bending nameplate). If the curvature and residual surface
stress 0 have an opposite sign, it will result in a negative distributed
transverse force. From Fig. 4, it can be seen that a positive residual
surface stress (0 4 0) increases the deection of the nanoplate. This
is due to the fact that a downward curvature occurs in the cantilever
nanoplate. This leads to a positive curvature and results in a positive
distributed force, which increases the deection of the nanoplate.
In the same way, we can explain that a positive residual surface stress
(0 4 0) decreases the deection of nanoplates with simply supported boundary conditions (vice versa for 0 o 0).

where n n=a and m m=b, a and b are, respectively, the


length and width of the nanoplate. It should be noted that Eq. (31)
can be obtained from our previous study [23] by neglecting the
nonlocal effect ( 0).
Based on the Mindlin plate theory, the motion governing
equation can be expressed as [11]
2

k Ghx;x y;y 2 w 20 2 w I w

32a

Fig. 7. Deection of simply supported nanoplate with different values of thickness.

K.F. Wang, B.L. Wang / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 74 (2013) 2229



1
1
D x;xx 1x;yy 1 y;xy
2
2
2

h 
2u0 0 x;xx 0 u0 y;xy u0 x;yy
2
2
k Ghx wx J x

Table 2
Variation of fundamental natural frequencies of Kirchhoff nanoplate with aspect
ratio of the plate for simply supported boundary condition (h 5 nm).

32b

Aspect
ratio

FEM
(GHz)

a/b 1
8.5889
a/b 1.25 10.132
a/b 1.5 11.956
a/b 2
16.437



1
1
D y;yy 1y;xx 1 x;xy
2
2

h 
2u0 0 y;yy 0 u0 x;xy u0 y;xx
2
2
k Ghy wy J y

27

Analytical results
(GHz)

Results for classical theory Errors


(GHz)
(%)

8.6501
10.215
12.061
16.591

5.1133
6.5514
8.3091
12.783

0.7
0.81
0.87
0.93

32c

The natural frequency of a simply supported nanoplate is


s
p p
g 1 3 g 7 3 g 8
33
mn
3g 0
Where g 0 , g 1 , g 7 and g 8 are shown in Appendix B. It should be
noted that Eq. (33) can be obtained in our previous study [23] by
neglecting the nonlocal effect ( 0).

Table 3
Fundamental natural frequencies of Kirchhoff nanoplate with clamped boundary
condition.
Thickness
(nm)

With surface effect


(GHz)

No surface effect
(GHz)

Different
(%)

h5
h 10
h 15
h 20

11.701
18.772
27.535
36.599

9.2290
18.458
27.687
36.916

26.79
1.7
0.55
0.86

3.4. Finite element solution for free vibration


In this subsection, the frequencies of nanoplates based on both
Kirchhoff and Mindlin plate theories are computed by using
10  10 element mesh conguration. Table 1 lists the fundamental
frequencies of simply supported nanoplate with varying thicknesses. Comparing the FEM results with the analysis results, it can
be seen that the error is within 1%. Such accuracy is adequate for
most practical situations. Comparing the fundamental frequencies
using FEM with the results for classical theory, it found that the
surface effect has a substantial effect on the fundamental frequencies of thinner nanoplate. The inuence of the surface effect on the
fundamental frequencies increases with the decreasing thickness
of nanoplate.
Table 2 shows the fundamental frequencies of nanoplate with
different aspect ratio (a/b). It can be seen that the inuence of the
surface effect on fundamental frequencies is more obvious if the
aspect ratio of the nanoplate equals to 1.
The fundamental frequencies of nanoplate with clamped
boundary condition are shown in Table 3. It is found that when
the thickness is larger than 15 nm the surface effect may be
neglected since the relative error is within 1%.
Table 4 lists the fundamental frequencies of cantilever nameplates. It is found that the fundamental frequencies calculated for
cantilever Si (100) nanoplates are lower than those calculated
without the surface effect.
Comparing Tables 14, one can conclude that the inuence of
surface effect on the fundamental frequencies of the nanoplate
depends on the signs of surface elasticity constants and residual
surface stress, nanoplate thickness and boundary conditions. For
example, Table 5 shows the fundamental frequencies of nanoplates with only consideration of the residual surface stress. It is
found that a positive residual surface stress increases the fundamental frequencies of nanoplates with simply supported and
Table 1
Variation of fundamental natural frequencies of the Kirchhoff nanoplate with
thickness of the plate for simply supported boundary condition.
Thickness
(nm)

FEM
(GHz)

Analytical results
(GHz)

Results for classical theory Errors


(GHz)
(%)

h5
h 10
h 15
h 20

8.5889
11.059
15.482
20.324

8.6501
11.180
15.638
20.510

5.1133
10.227
15.340
20.453

0.7
1.0
1.0
0.9

Table 4
Fundamental natural frequencies of cantilever Kirchhoff nanoplates.
Thickness
(nm)

With surface effect


(GHz)

No surface effect
(GHz)

Different
(%)

h5
h 10
h 15
h 20

0.4552
1.5430
2.5453
3.4841

0.8965
1.7929
2.6894
3.5858

49.23
13.94
5.36
2.84

Table 5
Fundamental natural frequencies of Kirchhoff nanoplates with only consideration
of the residual surface stress (h 10 nm).

0 0:6056 N=m
0 0 N=m
0 0:6056 N=m

SS

CC

CF

11.347
10.227
8.8419

19.269
18.458
17.606

1.5924
1.7929
2.0561

clamped boundary conditions, but decreases the fundamental


frequencies of a cantilever nanoplate (and vice versa for a residual
surface stress).This trends were similar to the case of nanowire
bending [22]. In addition, a comparison of Tables 1, 3, 4 with
Table 5 suggests that, a negative surface elastic constant decreases
the fundamental frequencies of nanoplates. As an additional
example, for a simply supported nanoplate with the surface effect,
the natural frequency has been derived as Eq. (31), and the
classical natural frequency for a simply supported nanoplate is
2nm D2n 2m 2 =h. The difference is derived as
"

2
s2
nm nm

#
2
Es h 2
2
n m 20 2n 2m

2
2

34

For Si [100], Es h 2n 2m =2 o 0 and 20 4 0. When thickness h


is small, the surface effect will increase the frequencies. As
thickness h increases, Eq. (34) will be negative. At this situation,
the frequency from the FEM with surface effect becomes smaller
than the classical result. Based on this, it is not difcult to
understand why the frequencies from FEM with surface effect
are smaller than the classical results for h 15 nm and h20 nm,
in Table 3.

28

K.F. Wang, B.L. Wang / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 74 (2013) 2229

Table 6
Fundamental natural frequencies of Mindlin nanoplate with simply supported
boundary condition.
Thickness
(nm)

FEM
(GHz)

Analytical results
(GHz)

Results for classical theory Errors


(GHz)
(%)

h 25
h 30
h 35
h 40

22.176
25.296
28.197
30.358

22.362
25.505
28.232
30.577

22.312
25.494
28.237
30.588

0.83
0.82
0.12
0.72

the surface effect can increase or decrease the deection and


frequencies of the nanoplates, depending on the signs of surface
elastic constants and residual surface stress, and the boundary
conditions of the nanoplate. For example, a positive residual
surface stress increases the deection of cantilever nanoplates,
but decreases the deection of nanoplates with simply supported
and clamped boundary conditions (vice versa for a negative
residual surface stresses). A positive surface elasticity reduces
the deections of nanoplates (and vice versa for a negative one).
In addition, a positive residual surface stress increases the frequencies of nanoplates with simply supported and clamped
boundary conditions, but reduces the frequencies of a cantilever
nanoplate. The nite element model developed in this paper can
be used to study the static and dynamic behaviors of nanoplates
with complicated geometries, boundary and loading conditions
and material properties. It provides an efcient tool for the
analysis and design of nanoscale plate devices in nanotechnology.

Acknowledgments
This research was supported by National Science Foundation of
China (project ID 11172081) and Shenzhen Research Innovation
Foundation, China (project ID JCYJ20120613150312764).

Appendix A
Fig. 8. A T-shape Si nanoresonator.

Table 6 shows the fundamental frequencies of simply supported Mindlin nanoplates of various values of thickness.
Once again, the relative errors between the FEM results and the
analysis results are less than 1%. The fundamental frequencies
show a negligible dependency on the surface effect if the thickness
of the nanoplate is sufciently large (e.g., 425 nm). Note that the
inuence of surface effect on the frequencies of the Mindlin plates
is quite similar to that for the Kirchhoff plates. Therefore,
the results for the Mindlin plates are not shown here.

3
0
D11 D12
6D
0 7
D 4 21 D22
5;
0
0
D66


N N1 N2 N3 N4

s

C s 11
6 s
4 C 21
0

C s 12
C

22

0 7
5

C s 66

2
N 1 18 s1t1s2 s t 2 t2; 18 bs1t1 t 1;

N 2 18 s 1t1s2 s t 2 t2;

1
8 bs

N 3 18 s 1t 1s2 s t 2 t2;

1t12 t 1;

1
8 bs

2
1
8 as1 s

1
8 as1s

1t1 

12 t1 

1t1t 1 ; 18 as1s 12 t 1 

2
2
N 4 18 s1t 1s2 s t 2 t2; 18 bs1t1t 1 ; 18 as1 s 1t 1 

3.5. Applications of the current model to a MEM/MEMS device


In this subsection, we use the present FEM to calculate the
fundamental frequency of a T-shape nanoplate silicon nanoresonator, which is widely used in MEMS/NEMS [2426]. The thickness
of the plate is h 2 nm and the FEM mesh is shown in Fig. 8.
he device has relatively complicated geometries and boundary
conditions. First, consider the case that edge AB is clamped and the
remaining edges are free. The fundamental frequency of the
resonator is calculated as 41.593 GHZ. If neglecting surface effect,
the fundamental frequency is calculated as 52.126 GHZ. This
suggests that the surface effect decreases the frequency of the
resonator. Next, consider the case that edge AB clamped, edge EF
simply supported and the remaining edges free. The fundamental
frequencies of the plate calculated are 87.753 GHZ if the surface
effect is included in the model and 90.430 GHZ if the surface effect
is ignored. In this boundary condition, the surface effect increases
the frequency of the resonator.

4. Conclusion
A nite element model including the inuence of surface
elastic and residual surface stress has been derived based on the
weighted residual method. With the model developed, it is
possible to investigate the size dependence of the static and
dynamic behaviors of nanoplates. Numerical results show that

where s xxc =a and t yyc =b. (xc ,yc ) is the coordinate of


certain of element.
8 2 9
1 N>
>
2
2 >
>
>
=
< a s2 >
1 N
B b2 t 2 ;
>
>
>
>
>
;
: 2 2 N >
ab st

Appendix B
8
N 14 s1t1s t 1
>
>
> 1
>
>
1 2
>
>
> N 2 2 s 1t1
>
>
>
>
N 3 14 t1s2 ts t 1
>
>
>
>
< N 4 1 s 1t 2 1
2

>
N 5 14 s 1t 1s t1
>
>
>
>
>
> N 6 12 s2 1t 1
>
>
>
>
> N 7 14 s1t 1st 1
>
>
>
>
: N 8 1 s1t 2 1
2
2

BG 

N1
x
4 N1
y

N1

N 1

N 2
x
N 2
y

N 2

3
5

K.F. Wang, B.L. Wang / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 74 (2013) 2229

1
N
x

6
6
Bb  6
4

N1
y

N 2
y

N1
x

1
N
y

N 2
x

7
7
7
5


fNw g N 1 0 0 N 2 :::


N 0 0 N 1 0 :::
n xo 
Ny 0 N 1 0 0 :::
g 0 IJ 2
h
i
g 1 22 33 IJ 11 J 2


g 2 I 223 22 33 J 212 213 11 22 11 33
g 3 11 22 33 223 12 12 33 13 23 13 12 23 13 22
g 4 g 21 3g 0 g 2
g 5 g 1 g 2 9g 0 g 3
g 6 g 22 3g 1 g 3
g7 g1 g4
g8 g1 g4

q

3g 0 g 5 g 25 4g 4 g 6
q2

3g 0 g 5 g 25 4g 4 g 6
2

11 k Gh20 ;
2

12 12 k Gh;
2

13 31 k Gh;
( 
)

2

1 2
h  2
2

2u0 0 u0 2 k Gh ;
22 D 2
2
2
"
#
2
1
h
D u0 0 ;
23 32
2
2
( 
)

2

1 2
h  2
2
2
2

2u0 0 u0 k Gh :
33 D
2
2

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