Effect of non-uniform temperature distributions on nonlocal vibration and buckling of inhomogeneous size-dependent beams

In the present investigation, thermal buckling and free vibration characteristics of functionally graded (FG) Timoshenko nanobeams subjected to nonlinear thermal loading are carried out by presenting a Navier type solution. The thermal load is assumed to be nonlinear distribution through the thickness of FG nanobeam. Thermo-mechanical properties of FG nanobeam are supposed to vary smoothly and continuously throughout the thickness based on power-law model and the material properties are assumed to be temperature-dependent. Eringen's nonlocal elasticity theory is exploited to describe the size dependency of nanobeam. Using Hamilton's principle, the nonlocal equations of motion together with corresponding boundary conditions based on Timoshenko beam theory are obtained for the thermal buckling and vibration analysis of graded nanobeams including size effect. Moreover, in following a parametric study is accompanied to examine the effects of the several parameters such as nonlocal parameter, thermal effect, power law index and aspect ratio on the critical buckling temperatures and natural frequencies of the size-dependent FG nanobeams in detail. According to the numerical results, it is revealed that the proposed modeling can provide accurate frequency results of the FG nanobeams as compared some cases in the literature. Also, it is found that the small scale effects and nonlinear thermal loading have a significant effect on thermal stability and vibration characteristics of FG nanobeams.