ARTICLE IN PRESS

Physica E 42 (2010) 17271735

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Physica E
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/physe

Nonlinear free vibration of single-walled carbon nanotubes using nonlocal

Timoshenko beam theory
J. Yang a,n, L.L. Ke b,c, S. Kitipornchai b
a

School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, PO Box 71, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia
Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, PR China
c
Institute of Engineering Mechanics, Beijing Jiaotong University, 100044 Beijing, PR China
b

a r t i c l e in fo

abstract

Article history:
Received 24 November 2009
Received in revised form
19 January 2010
Accepted 19 January 2010
Available online 25 January 2010

Nonlinear free vibration of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is studied in this paper based on
von Karman geometric nonlinearity and Eringens nonlocal elasticity theory. The SWCNTs are modeled
as nanobeams where the effects of transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia are considered
within the framework of Timoshenko beam theory. The governing equations and boundary conditions
are derived by using the Hamiltons principle. The differential quadrature (DQ) method is employed to
discretize the nonlinear governing equations which are then solved by a direct iterative method to
obtain the nonlinear vibration frequencies of SWCNTs with different boundary conditions. Zigzag (5, 0),
(8, 0), (9, 0) and (11, 0) SWCNTs are considered in numerical calculations and the elastic modulus is
obtained through molecular mechanics (MM) simulation. A detailed parametric study is conducted to
study the inuences of nonlocal parameter, length and radius of the SWCNTs and end supports on the
nonlinear free vibration characteristics of SWCNTs.
& 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
SWCNTs
Nonlinear vibration
Timoshenko beam theory
Nonlocal elasticity
DQ method

1. Introduction
Nonlocal elasticity theory was proposed by Eringen [13] to
consider the scale effect in elasticity by assuming the stress at a
reference point to be a function of strain eld at every point in the
body. It has been extensively applied to analyze the bending,
buckling, vibration and wave propagation of beam-like elements
in micro- or nanoelectromechanical devices [413]. Sudak [14]
studied innitesimal column buckling of carbon nanotubes
(CNTs), incorporating the van der Waals (vdW) forces and small
scale effect, and showed that the critical axial strain decreases
compared with the results of classical beams. Wang [15]
discussed the molecular dispersion relationships for CNTs by
taking into account the small scale effect. Wang and Hu [16]
studied exural wave propagation in a SWCNT by using the
continuum mechanics and dynamic simulation. Lu et al. [17]
investigated the wave propagation and vibration properties of
single- or multi-walled CNTs based on nonlocal beam model.
Wang et al. [18] presented analytical solutions for the free
vibration of nonlocal Timoshenko beams. Reddy [19] developed
nonlocal theories for EulerBernoulli, Timoshenko, Reddy, and
Levinson beams. Analytical bending, vibration and buckling
solutions are obtained which bring out the nonlocal effect on

Corresponding author. Tel.: + 61 3 99256169; fax: + 61 3 99256108.

E-mail address: j.yang@rmit.edu.au (J. Yang).

1386-9477/$ - see front matter & 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.physe.2010.01.035

bending deformation, buckling load, and natural frequencies.

More recently, Tounsi and his co-workers [2023] investigated
the sound wave propagation in single- and double-walled CNTs
taking into account the nonlocal effect, temperature and initial
axial stress. Furthermore, they [24,25] derived the consistent
governing equation of motion for the free vibration of uidconveying CNTs with nonlocal effect, which is an important
application of nonlocal elastic theory in CNTs. Yang et al. [26]
investigated the pull-in instability of nano-switches subjected to
combined electrostatic and intermolecular forces within the
framework of nonlocal elasticity theory. Aydogdu [27] presented
a generalized nonlocal beam theory to study bending, buckling
and free vibration of nanobeams.
Previous theoretic and experimental investigations [28,29]
showed that the deformation of nanostructures, such as CNTs, is
nonlinear in nature when subjected to large external loads.
Fu et al. [28] investigated the nonlinear free vibration of
embedded multiwall CNTs considering inter-tube radial displacement and the related internal degrees of freedom. Shen and Zhang
[30,31] considered the buckling and postbuckling behavior of
single- and double-walled CNTs in thermal environments. Yan
et al. [32] analyzed the nonlinear vibration characteristics of the
uid-lled DWNTs. To the best of authors knowledge, however,
no previous work has been done concerning the small scale effect
on the nonlinear vibration behavior of nanostructures.
This paper makes the rst attempt to study the nonlinear
free vibration of SWCNTs based on von Karman geometric

ARTICLE IN PRESS
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J. Yang et al. / Physica E 42 (2010) 17271735

nonlinearity, Timoshenko beam theory and Eringens nonlocal

elasticity theory. The Hamiltons principle is employed to derive
the governing equations and boundary conditions which are
solved by using the differential quadrature (DQ) method. A direct
iterative technique is then used to obtain the nonlinear vibration
frequencies of nonlocal SWCNTs with different end supports. In
numerical calculations, zigzag (5, 0), (8, 0), (9, 0) and (11, 0)
SWCNTs are considered and the elastic modulus is obtained by
using MM simulation. The inuences of nonlocal parameter,
length and radius of the SWCNTs and end supports on the
nonlinear free vibration characteristics of the SWCNTs are
discussed in detail.

x
h

Unlike the constitutive equation in classical elasticity,

Eringens nonlocal elasticity theory [13] states that the stress
at a point x in a body depends not only on the strain at that point
but also on those at all points of the body. This observation is in
accordance with atomic theory of the lattice dynamics and
experimental observation of the phonon dispersion [2]. Thus,
the nonlocal stress tensor r at point x is expressed as
Z
r a9x0 x9; tTx0 dx0 ;
1
V

where T(x) is the classical, macroscopic stress tensor at point x.

a(9x0 x9,t) is the nonlocal modulus or attenuation function
introducing into the constitutive equation the nonlocal effect at
the reference point x produced by local strain at the source x0 . 9x0 x9 is the Euclidean distance, and t e0 a=l is dened as the scale
coefcient that incorporates the small scale factor, where e0 is a
material constant determined experimentally or approximated by
matching the dispersion curves of plane waves with those of
atomic lattice dynamics, and a and l are the internal and external
characteristic lengths (e.g. crack length, wavelength), respectively.
The stress tensor T(x) at point x in a Hookean solid is related to
the strain tensor e(x) at the point by the generalized Hookes law
[19]

The strain energy V is given by

Z Z
1 L
sxx exx sxz gxz dAdx;
V
2 0 A

where A is the cross-sectional area of the beam, sxx and txz are
normal and shear stresses, respectively. By submitting Eq. (5) into
Eq. (6), the strain energy V can be represented as

)

 #
Z Z ( "
1 L
@U 1 @W 2
@C
@W
dA dx

C
sxz
sxx z
V
sxx
2 0 A
@x 2 @x
@x
@x
(
)
"
#




Z
1 L
@U 1 @W 2
@C
@W
dx;

Qx
Mx
Nx

C
@x
2 0
@x 2 @x
@x
7
where the normal resultant force Nx, bending moment Mx, and
transverse shear force Qx are calculated from
Z
Z
Z
8
Nx sxx dA; Mx sxx z dA; Qx sxz dA:
A

The kinetic energy K can be calculated from

 2 #


Z "  2
1 L
@U
@W 2
@C
K
dx;
rA
rA
rI
@t
2 0
@t
@t

where C(x) is the fourth-order elasticity tensor and : denotes the

double-dot product.
From Eqs. (1) and (2), the integral nonlocal constitutive
relations can be represented in an equivalent differential form
as [2]
2

1tl2 r r T:

where I is the second moment of area and r is the mass density of

beam material.
For a beam type structure, the thickness and width are much
smaller than its length. Therefore, for beams with transverse
motion in the xz plane, the nonlocal constitutive relations (3) can
be approximated to one-dimensional form as [19]

sxx e0 a2
3. Nonlinear vibration analysis of nonlocal SWCNTs
Fig. 1 shows a SWCNT modeled as a Timoshenko nanobeam
with length L, radius r, and effective tube thickness h. It is
assumed that the SWCNTs vibrate only in the xz plane. Based on
Timoshenko beam theory, the displacements of an arbitrary point
in the beam along the x- and z-axes, denoted by U~ x; z; t and
~ x; z; t, respectively, are
W
U~ x; z; t Ux; t zCx; t;

Fig. 1. A single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) modeled as a nonlocal Timoshenko

nanobeam.

2. Nonlocal nanobeam model

Tx Cx : ex;

~ x; z; t Wx; t;
W

where U(x,t) and W(x,t) are displacement components in the

midplane, C is the rotation of beam cross-section and t is time.
The von Karman type nonlinear strain-displacement relations give


@U 1 @W 2
@C
@W
; gxz
exx
z
5

C;
@x
@x 2 @x
@x
where, exx is the axial strain, and gxz is the shear strain.

d2 sxx
Eexx ;
dx2

sxz e0 a2

d2 sxz
Ggxz ;
dx2

10

where E and G are Youngs modulus and shear modulus,

respectively. The constitutive relations in classical elasticity
theories can be recovered by setting the nonlocal parameter
e0a = 0.
Using the Hamiltons principle
Z t
dKdV dt 0;
11
0

substituting Eqs. (7) and (9) into Eq. (11), integrating by parts and
setting the coefcients of dU, dW and dC to zero leads to the
equations of motion as [3335]
@Nx
@2 U
rA 2 ;
@x
@t

12a



@Qx
@
@W
@2 W

Nx
rA 2 ;
@x
@x
@x
@t

12b

ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Yang et al. / Physica E 42 (2010) 17271735

@Mx
@2 C
Qx rI 2 :
12c
@x
@t
The corresponding boundary conditions at beam ends (x= 0,L)
require
x 0; L : U 0 or Nx 0;

Introducing the following dimensionless quantities



x
U; W
rA rI
;
;
z ; u; w
; c C; I1 ; I3
rA rAr2
L
r

W 0 or Qx 0; C 0; or Mx 0:
13

The governing Eq. (12) and boundary conditions (13) are

seemingly the same as those for classical Timoshenko beam [36].
The normal resultant force, bending moment and shear force of
the nonlocal SWCNTs, however, are different due to the nonlocal
constitutive relation (10) and by making use of Eqs. (10), (5), (8)
and (12), can be expressed as
"

 #
2
@U 1 @W 2
2 @ Nx
Nx e0 a
;
14a
EA

@x 2 @x
@x2
Mx e0 a2

1729

e0 a
;
L

a11 ; a55 ; d11


EA ks GA EI
;
;
;
2
EA EA EAr

@2 w

a55

@z

!
@c
@2
S1 m2 S2 I1 2
@z
@i
@2
I1 2
@i

14b



@ Qx
@W
ks GA
C ;
Qx e0 a2
2
@x
@x

t
L

s
E

Eq. (16) can be expressed in dimensionless form as

!
!
4
@2 u 1 @w @2 w
@2
2@ u
a11
I1 2 um
;

2
2
Z @z @z2
@i
@z
@z

@ Mx
@C
;
EI
@x
@x2

wm2

19b

20a

!
@4 w
2

@z

!
@4 u
m 2 m 4 ;
@z
@z
2

L
r
19a

@2 u

20b

14c

where ks is the shear correction factor depending on the shape of

the cross-section of the beam. By substituting Eq. (12) into
Eq. (14), the explicit expressions of nonlocal normal resultant force
Nx, bending moment Mx and shear force Qx can be obtained as
"

 #
@U 1 @W 2
@3 U
Nx EA
e0 a2 rA
;
15a

@x 2 @x
@x@t 2

Mx EI

@C
e0 a2
@x

"

#
@ C
@ W @
@W
rI

r
A

N
;
x
@x
@x
@x@t2
@t 2
3

15b

15c

Then, the nonlinear equations of motion for the nonlocal

SWCNTs modeled as a Timoshenko nanobeam can be derived by
inserting Eq. (15) into Eq. (12)

EA

@2 U @W @2 W

@x @x2
@x2

!
rA

"
#


2
@w
@2
2@ c

I
;
a
Z

Z
c
c

m
55
3
2
2
@z
@i2
@z
@z

@2 c

20c

where

S1

"
#
 
a11 @2 u @w
3 @w 2 @2 w @u @2 w
;

Z @z2 @z 2Z @z @z2 @z @z2

!
@4 u @w
@3 u @2 w
@2 u @3 w @u @4 w
S2
3 3 2 3 2 3
Z @z4 @z
@z @z4
@z @z
@z @z
2
3
!3
 
a11 4 @2 w
@w @2 w @3 w 3 @w 2 @4 w5
2 3
9

:
2
4
@z @z2 @z3
2 @z
Z
@z
@z

21

a11

"



#
@W
@3 W
@2
@W
2

Nx
Qx ks GA
C e0 a rA
:
@x
@x
@x@t 2 @x2

d11

22

The associated boundary conditions can be written in

dimensionless form as
u w c 0;

23

for a clamped end and

"
#
2
@2
2@ U
;
Ue
a
0
@t 2
@x2

16a

"
#
!
2
@2 W @C
@2
2
2@ W
ks GA
S1 e0 a S2 rA 2 We0 a

@x
@t
@x2
@x2
"
#
2
2
4
@ @ U
@ U
;
e0 a2
rAe0 a2 2
@t @x2
@x4

u w 0;

24a
("
)
  #
@u
1 @w 2 @w

@z 2Z @z
@z
!
@c
@2 u
I3
I1 Zwm2 I1 Z 2 0;
@z
@z

@c m2 a11 @
d11

@z
Z @z
m2

@2
@i2

24b

16b
"



@2 C
@W
@2
@2 C
C rI 2 Ce0 a2 2 ;
EI 2 ks GA
@x
@x
@t
@x

16c

for a hinged end. It is observed form Eq. (24b) that the bending
moment at the hinged end is nonlinear and includes the nonlocal
parameter m.

where
"

S1 EA

#


@2 U @W 3 @W 2 @2 W @U @2 W
;

2 @x
@x @x2
@x2 @x
@x2

!
@4 U @W
@3 U @2 W
@2 U @3 W @U @4 W
S2 EA
3 2

3 3
@x @x4
@x4 @x
@x @x2
@x @x3
2
3
!3


2 4
2
2
3
@
W
@W
@
W
@
W
3
@W
@
W
5:
EA43
9

@x @x2 @x3
2 @x
@x2
@x4

17

18

(5, 0)

(8, 0)

(9, 0)

Fig. 2. Zigzag (5, 0), (8, 0), (9, 0) and (11, 0) SWCNTs.

(11, 0)

ARTICLE IN PRESS
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J. Yang et al. / Physica E 42 (2010) 17271735

4. Solution method

d11

The differential quadrature (DQ) method [37,38] is used to

solve nonlinear Eq. (20) and the associated boundary conditions
to determine the nonlinear free vibration frequencies of nonlocal
SWCNTs. The fundamental idea of the DQ method is to
approximate the derivative of a function at a sample point as a
linear weighted sum of the function values at all of the sample
points in the problem domain. Hence, u, w and c and their kth
derivatives with respect to x can be approximated by
N
X

fu; w; cg

N
X



lm x um xm ; t; wm xm ; t; cm xm ; t ;

2
Cim
cm a55

N
X

m1

!
1
Cim
wm

"

Zci I3

m1

N
X

c i m2

2
Cim
cm

m1

28c
where the dot represents the derivative with respect to the
dimensionless time i,
2
!2
N
N
N
X
X
a11 4 X
3
2
1
1
S1i
C u
C w
C w
Z m 1 im m m 1 im m 2Z m 1 im m
#
N
N
N
X
X
X
2
1
2
29
Cim
wm
Cim
um
Cim
wm ;
m1

25

m1

m1

m1


@ 
u; w; c 9x xi
@xk

N
X

k 
Cim
um xm ; t ;


wm xm ; t ; cm xm ; t ;

S2i

Applying Eqs (25) and (26) to Eq. (20), one obtains a set of
nonlinear ordinary differential equations
2
Cim
um

m1

N
1 X

Zm1

1
Cim
wm

N
X

!
2
Cim
wm

N
X

I1 u i m2

m1

!
2
Cim
u m ;

m1

N
X

2
Cim
wm Z

m1
2

i m
I1 w

N
X

m1

N
X

2
m 2
Cim
w

m1

N
X

2
Cim
u m

m1

N
X

!
4
Cim
u m

28b

m1

Table 1
The elastic modulus of zigzag (5, 0), (8, 0), (9, 0) and (11, 0) SWCNTs obtained by
using molecular mechanics simulation.
(n, m) Number of
atoms

Length
(nm)

Diameter
(nm)

Elastic modulus
(TPa)

(5, 0)
(8, 0)
(9, 0)
(11, 0)

4.7971
4.8659
4.8749
4.8857

0.391
0.626
0.705
0.861

1.1468
1.1556
1.1572
1.1621

240
384
432
528

5
6
7
8
10
16
20

HH

CH

N
X

N
X

3
Cim
um

N
X

2
Cim
wm 3

m1
N
X

N
X

a11

"

3
Cim
wm

m1

N
X

N
X

N
X

4
Cim
um

m1

2
Cim
um

m1

N
X

2
Cim
wm

m1

N
X

N
X

1
Cim
wm

4
Cim
wm 5
m1

m1

3
Cim
wm

m1

4
Cim
wm :

30

m1

m1
N
X

m1

!2
1
C1m
wm

m1

m2 I3

N
X

m1

N
X

N
N
X
X
2
1
2
C1m
wm
C1m
um
C1m
wm 5
m1
m1
m1
N
X

2
1 m2 I1 Z
C1m
c m I1 Zw

m1

2
C1m
u m

0;

m1

u1 w1 0; at z 0;

N
X

d11

a
1
CNm
cm  11

m1

2Z

"

N
X

1
CNm
wm

m1
N
X

N
X

31a

2
CNm
um

m1
!2
N

N
X

1
CNm
wm

m1

N
N
X
X
2
1
1
CNm
wm
CNm
um
CNm
wm 5
m1
m1
m1

2
N m2 I1 Z
CNm
c m I1 Zw

m1

N
X

2
CNm
u m

0;

m1

uN wN 0; at z 1:

CC

ol

onl

ol

onl

ol

onl

0.45690
0.41943
0.42263
0.42333
0.42333
0.42333
0.42333

0.43755
0.44016
0.44055
0.44055
0.44055
0.44055

0.66723
0.60107
0.60342
0.60523
0.60526
0.60526
0.60526

0.60978
0.61924
0.61963
0.61975
0.61975
0.61975

0.81629
0.81256
0.80536
0.80550
0.80551
0.80551
0.80551

0.83042
0.82071
0.81888
0.81888
0.81888

1
Cim
wm

m1

The associated boundary conditions can be handled in the

same way. For example, the boundary conditions of a hinged
hinged SWCNT are written as
"
N
N
N
X
X
X
a
1
2
1
d11
C1m
cm  11
C1m
um
C1m
wm

m2 I3

Table 2
Dimensionless linear and nonlinear fundamental frequencies of nonlocal (8, 0)
SWCNTs: results with varying total number of nodes N.
N

!2

1
Cim
um

2Z

1
Cim
cm S1i m2 S2i

m1

1
Cim
wm

m1

28a

a55

N
X

m1
N
X

!3
2
Cim
wm

m1

where N is the total number of nodes distributed along the x-axis,

lm(x) is the Lagrange interpolation polynomials, and C(k)
im is the
weighting coefcients whose recursive formula can be found in
[3740]. The cosine pattern is used to generate the DQ point
system




1
pi1
1cos
; i 1; 2; . . .N:
27
xi
2
N1

N
X

Z2

N
X

m1

26

a11

2
a11 4

31b

Denoting the unknown dynamic displacement vector

n
 T oT
ci
; i 1; 2; . . .N;
d fui gT ; fwi gT ;

32

Table 3
Dimensionless linear fundamental frequency of a hingedhinged nonlocal
Timoshenko nanobeam.
L/h

10
20
100

(e0a)2 =0.5

(e0a)2 = 1.5

(e0a)2 =2.5

Ref. [19]

Present

Ref. [19]

Present

Ref. [19]

Present

9.6335
9.6040
9.5135

9.6331
9.5942
9.4765

9.2101
9.1819
9.0953

9.2097
9.1726
9.0600

8.8380
8.8110
8.7279

8.8377
8.8020
8.6940

ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Yang et al. / Physica E 42 (2010) 17271735

1731

Table 4
Dimensionless linear fundamental frequency of SWCNTs with different boundary conditions.

m = 0.1

Boundary condition

HH
CH
CC

m = 0.3

Ref. [18]

Present

Ref. [18]

Present

Ref. [18]

Present

3.0243
3.6939
4.3471

3.0210(0.11%)
3.6849(0.24%)
4.3269(0.47%)

2.6538
3.2115
3.7895

2.6385(0.58%)
3.1724(1.23%)
3.7032(2.33%)

2.2867
2.7471
3.2420

2.2665(0.89%)
2.6982(1.81%)
3.1372(3.34%)

Table 5
Comparisons of nonlinear frequency ratio onl/ol for isotropic homogeneous
hingedhinged beam with L/h= 100, h=0.3 in.
Wmax =Y

Present

FEM [46]

1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0

1.11920
1.41801
1.80919
2.24511
2.70429

1.1181
1.4178
1.8094
2.2455
2.7052

Eqs. (28) and (31) can be expressed in matrix form as

KL KNL d Md 0;

33

where M is the mass matrix, KL is the linear stiffness matrix and

KNL is nonlinear stiffness matrix that is the functions in d. M, KL
and KNL are 3N  3N matrices.
Expanding the dynamic displacement vector d in the form of
d d eioi ;


34
p
where o OL r=E represents the dimensionless frequency, O is
the n 
nonlinear
of
the
SWCNT,
T   vibration
  T oTfrequency
T

ui ;
wi ;
ci
is the vibration mode shape
d
vector. Substituting Eq. (34) into Eq. (33) yields the nonlinear
eigenvalue equations as follows:


KL KNL d o2 Md 0;

m = 0.5

35

This nonlinear equation can be solved through a direct

iterative process below
Step 1: By neglecting the nonlinear matrix KNL, a linear
eigenvalue (ol) and the associated eigenvector are obtained from
Eq. (35). The eigenvector is then appropriately scaled up such that
the maximum transverse displacement is equal to a given
vibration amplitude wmax. Note that wmax = w(0.5)for clamped
clamped and hingedhinged SWCNTs while wmax = w(0.57) for a
clampedhinged SWCNT.
Step 2: Using the eigenvector to calculate KNL, a new
eigenvalue and eigenvector are obtained from the updated
eigensystem (35).
Step 3: The eigenvector is scaled up again and step 2 is
repeated until the relative error between the given vibration
amplitude and the maximum transverse displacement wmax is
within 0.1%.

5. Molecular mechanics simulation for the elastic modulus of

SWCNTs
It was assumed in many previous studies [9,11,13,17,28]
dealing with vibration behavior of SWCNTs that the elastic
modulus of the SWCNT is about 1 TPa. In fact, the elastic modulus
is different for different diameters and chirality of the SWCNT and
can be determined through molecular mechanics (MM) simulation. The present paper employs the MM simulation to obtain the
elastic modulus of zigzag (5, 0), (8, 0), (9, 0) and (11, 0) SWCNTs
shown in Fig. 2. The interatomic interactions in the SWCNTs are

described by the COMPASS force eld (condensed-phased

optimized molecular potential for atomistic simulation studies)
[41]. This is the rst and only ab initio force eld to enable
accurate simulation and simultaneous prediction of structural,
conformational, vibrational, and thermophysical properties for a
broad range of molecules both in isolation and in the condensedphase. The MM simulations are carried out at a temperature of 0 K
to avoid the thermal effect [42]. The thickness of the SWCNT is
selected as 0.34 nm. It is assumed that the two ends of the SWCNT
are xed boundaries. The simulations of the SWCNT under
compression can be identied through a minimizer processor,
which enables the atoms in CNTs to rotate and move relative to
each other following a certain minimization algorithm to
minimize the strain energy so that an equilibrium state can be
identied. In the present analysis, energy minimization is
conducted using the smart minimizer that switches from the
steepest-descent to conjugated gradient and then to the Newton
method. The strain energy of the SWCNT is collected at every
compression deformation with the incremental displacement step
of 0.01 nm. Once the strain energy at every compression step is
available, the second derivative of the strain energy with respect
to the compression can easily be obtained through a simple nite
difference method. The modulus and radius of the zigzag (5, 0), (8,
0), (9, 0) and (11, 0) SWCNTs are listed in Table 1 and will be used
in the next section for nonlinear vibration analysis of SWCNTs.
These values agree well with the results obtained from the
molecular dynamic simulation [43], molecular structural
mechanics [44] and experiment [45].
It should be pointed out that for CNTs modeled as a 1-D
isotropic solid such as the Timoshenko beam model used in the
present paper, elastic modulus is the most important elastic
parameter that inuences the vibration frequencies of the
SWCNTs. As in many previous studies, see, for example,
Refs. [9,18], our focus is placed on the effect of diameter and
chirality on the elastic modulus of the SWCNTs by using MM
simulation while the shear modulus is approximately determined
from G= 0.5E/(1 + n). The Poissons ratio is taken as the value of the
graphite, i.e. v =0.19.

6. Numerical results
Tablep
2 lists
the dimensionless fundamental frequencies

(o OL r=E) of (8, 0) SWNTs (m = 0.15) with varying total

numbers of nodes N. ol and onl denote the linear and nonlinear
frequencies (wmax = 0.4), respectively. The SWNTs are modeled as
nonlocal Timoshenko nanobeams with hingedhinged (HH),
clampedhinged (CH) and clampedclamped (CC) boundary
conditions. Consider the SWNTs with radius r= 0.313 nm, length
L=5 nm, Youngs modulus E=1.1556 TPa, Poissons ratio v = 0.19,
effective tube thickness h= 0.34 nm and shear correction factor
Ks = 0.563 [18]. It is seen that the accuracy of the results is
improved with an increasing number of nodes N and convergent
results are obtained when NZ10. Hence, N=10 is used in all of the
following numerical calculations.

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J. Yang et al. / Physica E 42 (2010) 17271735

1.16

1.20

H-H:

nl/l

1.15

1.10

= 0.00 (l = 0.4680)
= 0.10 (l = 0.4465)
= 0.15 (l = 0.4233)
= 0.20 (l = 0.3963)

1.12

nl/l

H-H:

1.08

L = 5 nm ( l = 0.4233)
L = 8 nm ( l = 0.2742)
L = 12 nm (l = 0.1853)
L = 16 nm (l = 0.1397)

1.04

1.05

1.00
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

1.00
0.0

0.8

0.2

wmax

C-H:

nl/l

1.08
1.06

1.08

= 0.00 (l = 0.6765)
= 0.10 (l = 0.6420)
= 0.15 (l = 0.6053)
= 0.20 (l = 0.5628)

nl/l

C-H:

1.06

1.04

1.04

1.02

1.02

1.00
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

1.00
0.0

0.8

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

0.6

0.8

wmax

1.06

1.08
= 0.00 (l
= 0.10 (l
= 0.15 (l
= 0.20 (l

1.05

= 0.9036)
= 0.8560)
= 0.8055)
= 0.7473)

1.04

nl/l

C-C:

nl/l

0.8

L = 5 nm (l = 0.6053)
L = 8 nm (l = 0.4085)
L = 12 nm (l = 0.2808)
L = 16 nm (l = 0.2130)

wmax

1.04

0.6

1.10

1.10

1.06

0.4
wmax

C-C:

L = 5 nm (l = 0.8055)
L = 8 nm (l = 0.5666)
L = 12 nm (l = 0.3972)
L = 16 nm (l = 0.3036)

1.03
1.02

1.02

1.00
0.0

1.01

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

wmax

1.00
0.0

0.2

0.4
wmax

Fig. 3. The effect of nonlocal parameter m on nonlinear frequency ratio versus

amplitude curves of (8, 0) SWCNTs with L= 5 nm: (a) hingedhinged; (b) clamped
hinged; and (c) clampedclamped.

Fig. 4. The effect of length L on nonlinear frequency ratio versus amplitude curves
of (8, 0) SWCNTs with m = 0.15: (a) hingedhinged; (b) clampedhinged; and (c)
clampedclamped.

Table 3 gives the

dimensionless linear fundamental
p
frequencies (o OL2 rA=EI) of a hingedhinged nonlocal
Timoshenko nanobeam with various slenderness ratio L/h. The
parameters used in this example are [19]: L=10, E =30  106, r = 1,
v =0.3, Ks = 5/6. Our results are in good agreement with the

analytical results given by Reddy [19] using nonlocal Timoshenko

beam theory as well.
Table 4 presentsp
the dimensionless linear fundamental
frequencies (o OL2 rA=EI) of the SWNTs based on nonlocal
Timoshenko beam model. The analytical solutions given by

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J. Yang et al. / Physica E 42 (2010) 17271735

0.4

H-H:

(5,0): r = 0.1955 nm (l = 0.3164)

(8,0): r = 0.3130 nm ( l = 0.4233)
(9,0): r = 0.3525 nm ( l = 0.4598)
(11,0): r = 0.4305 nm (l = 0.5302)

1.16

nl/l

1.12

0.3

1.20

H-H:

0.2

= 0.00
= 0.10
= 0.15
= 0.20

1.08

0.1

1.04
1.00
0.0

0.2

0.4

wmax

0.6

0.0
0.0

0.8

0.2

0.4

1.06

(5,0): r = 0.1955 nm (l = 0.4666)

(8,0): r = 0.3130 nm (l = 0.6053)
(9,0): r = 0.3525 nm (l = 0.6496)
(11,0): r = 0.4305 nm (l = 0.7304)

1.0

0.8

1.0

0.8

1.0

0.3

C-H:

0.2

= 0.00
= 0.10
= 0.15
= 0.20

1.04

0.1
1.02
1.00
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.0
0.0

0.8

0.2

0.4

0.6

x/L

wmax

0.4

C-C:

(5,0): r = 0.1955 nm (l = 0.6402)

(8,0): r = 0.3130 nm (l = 0.8055)
(9,0): r = 0.3525 nm (l = 0.8551)
(11,0): r = 0.4305 nm (l = 0.9415)

0.3

1.06

nl/l

0.8

0.4

C-H:

1.08

1.08

0.6

x/L

1.10

nl/l

1733

1.04

0.2

1.02

0.1

1.00
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

wmax

0.0
0.0

C-C:
= 0.00
= 0.10
= 0.15
= 0.20

0.2

0.4

0.6

x/L

Fig.5. The effect of radius r on nonlinear frequency ratio versus amplitude curves
of the SWCNTs with m = 0.15 and L =5 nm: (a) hingedhinged; (b) clamped
hinged; and (c) clampedclamped.

Fig. 6. The effect of nonlocal parameter on the nonlinear mode shapes (deection
w) of (8, 0) SWCNTs with wmax = 0.4 and L= 5 nm: (a) hingedhinged; (b) clamped
hinged; and (c) clampedclamped.

Wang et al. [18] are also provided for a direct comparison.

The parameters used in this example are taken as [18]:
radius r = 0.339 nm, Youngs modulus E= 5.5 TPa, Poissons ratio
v =0.19, effective tube thickness h= 0.066 nm and shear correction
factor Ks = 0.563. The gures in the brackets are the relative
errors between the present and analytical solutions.

The difference is very small at m =0.1 but tends to increase

as m increases. This is because the nonlocal effect is not
included in the shear constitutive relationship in their
work [18].
Table 5 gives nonlinear frequency ratio onl/ol at different
maximum vibration amplitudes Wmax =Y ( = 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0)

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J. Yang et al. / Physica E 42 (2010) 17271735

0.08
0.06
0.04

0.02
0.00

H-H:
= 0.00
= 0.10
= 0.15
= 0.20

-0.02
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

x/L
0.10
0.08
0.06

0.04
0.02

C-H:

0.00

= 0.00
= 0.10
= 0.15
= 0.20

-0.02
-0.04
-0.06
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

x/L
0.06
0.04

0.02
0.00

C-C:
= 0.00
= 0.10
= 0.15
= 0.20

-0.02
-0.04
-0.06
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

x/L
Fig. 7. The effect of nonlocal parameter on the nonlinear mode shapes (rotation
c) of (8, 0) SWCNTs with wmax = 0.4 and L =5 nm: (a) hingedhinged; (b) clamped
hinged; and (c) clampedclamped.

for isotropic
homogeneous hingedhinged with L/h=100, h=0.3 in.
p
Here, Y I=A is the radius of the gyration of the beam with I and
A as the cross-section area and area moment of inertia, onl and ol
are the dimensionless nonlinear and linear frequencies,
respectively. The results obtained by the present direct iterative

method and nite element method [46] are listed in Table 5. Good
agreement was observed between the results obtained by the
direct iterative method and nite element method.
We now investigate the nonlinear free vibration of hinged
hinged (HH), clampedhinged (CH) and clampedclamped (C
C) nonlocal SWCNTs. Zigzag (5, 0), (8, 0), (9, 0) and (11, 0) SWCNTs
are considered and their elastic modulus and radius
p are listed in
Table 1. The frequency is normalized as o OL r=E in Figs. 37.
In Figs. 35, the linear fundamental frequencies ol are also given.
Unless otherwise stated, it is assumed that the length of the
SWCNTs L= 5 nm, Poissons ratio v = 0.19, effective tube thickness
h=0.34 nm and shear correction factor Ks = 0.563 [18].
Fig. 3 shows the nonlocal effect on the nonlinear frequency ratio
onl/ol versus amplitude curves for the (8, 0) SWCNTs with L=5 nm.
Note that the nonlocal parameter m =0 corresponds to classical
SWCNTs without nonlocal effect. The SWCNTs exhibit a typical hardspring behavior, i.e., the nonlinear frequency ratio increases as the
vibration amplitude is increased for all boundary conditions. The
nonlocal parameter has a signicant effect on the nonlinear vibration
behavior. At a given vibration amplitude, an increase in the nonlocal
parameter leads to both smaller linear and nonlinear frequencies but
a higher nonlinear frequency ratio. The clampedclamped SWCNT has
the highest while the hingedhinged one has the lowest linear
frequency, nonlinear frequency and nonlinear frequency ratio since
the end support is the strongest for the clampedclamped SWCNT
and the weakest for the hingedhinged SWCNT.
Fig. 4 shows the effect of beam length L on the nonlinear
frequency ratio versus amplitude curves for (8, 0) SWCNTs with
m =0.15. Both linear frequency and nonlinear frequency ratio
decrease as the length L increases. As L changes from 5 to 16 nm,
the linear frequency drops remarkably while the nonlinear
frequency ratio decreases slightly. The effect of beam length L
on the nonlinear frequency ratio is seen to be very small and is
negligible for long SWCNT (LZ16 nm).
Fig. 5 shows the effect of the radius r on the nonlinear
frequency ratio versus amplitude curves for SWCNTs with m = 0.15
and L=5 nm. Again, zigzag (5, 0), (8, 0), (9, 0) and (11, 0) SWCNTs
are considered. The radius changes from 0.1955 nm of the (5, 0)
SWCNT to 0.4305 nm of the (11, 0) SWCNT. Results show that an
increase in the radius signicantly raises the linear fundamental
frequency but slightly increases the nonlinear frequency ratio.
The nonlinear fundamental mode shapes for the displacement w
and rotation c of (8, 0) SWCNTs are plotted in Figs. 6 and 7 with
various nonlocal parameter (m =0.0, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2) at wmax =0.4 and
L=5 nm. The maximum displacementw occurs at the midpoint of
the hingedhinged and clampedclamped SWCNTs buts slightly
deviates from the center of the clampedhinged SWCNT. The
nonlocal parameter nearly has no effect on the nonlinear mode
shape (w and c) for the hingedhinged SWCNT, but it is relatively
large for the clampedhinged and clampedclamped SWCNTs. The
similar phenomenon is also found by Wang et al. [18] for linear
vibration modes of the nonlocal Timoshenko beams. Wang et al. [18]
proved that the linear vibration modes of the hingedhinged beam
do not include any nonlocal parameter, which is included in the
linear vibration modes of the clampedhinged and clamped
clamped beams. It is should be pointed out that though the nonlocal
parameter has not effect on both the linear and nonlinear modes of
the hingedhinged SWCNT, it has signicant effect to both the linear
and nonlinear frequencies of the hingedhinged SWCNT, as can be
seen from all of the results in Tables 3, 4 and Fig. 3.

7. Conclusions
This paper investigates the nonlinear free vibration of SWCNTs
based on von Karman geometric nonlinearity, Timoshenko beam

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J. Yang et al. / Physica E 42 (2010) 17271735

theory and Eringens nonlocal elasticity theory. Theoretical

formulations include the small scale effect and the inuences of
transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia. The differential
quadrature (DQ) method and a direct iterative approach are
employed to obtain the nonlinear vibration frequencies and mode
shapes of nonlocal nanobeams with different end supports. Zigzag
(5, 0), (8, 0), (9, 0) and (11, 0) SWCNTs are considered in numerical
calculation and their elastic modulus is obtained by using MM
simulation. Numerical results show that: (1) at a given vibration
amplitude, an increase in nonlocal parameter leads to smaller
linear and nonlinear frequencies but a higher nonlinear frequency
ratio; (2) both linear frequency and nonlinear frequency ratio
become lower as the length of SWCNT increases and the radius
decreases; (3) the nonlocal parameter has an insignicant effect
on the nonlinear mode shape but can considerably change the
linear and nonlinear frequencies.
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