Modified nonlocal strain gradient elasticity for nano-rods and application to carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Nowadays, the modified nonlocal strain gradient theory provides a mathematically well-posed and technically reliable methodology to assess scale effects in inflected nano-structures. Such an approach is extended in this paper to investigate the extensional behavior of nano-rods. The considered integral elasticity model, involving axial force and strain fields, is conveniently shown to be equivalent to a nonlocal differential problem equipped with constitutive boundary conditions. Unlike treatments in the literature, no higher-order boundary conditions are required to close the nonlocal problem. Closed-form solutions of elastic nano-rods under selected loadings and kinematic boundary conditions are provided. As an innovative implication, Young's moduli of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT) weare assessed and compared with predictions of Molecular Dynamics (MD). New benchmarks for numerical analyses were also detected.