Abstract

This paper investigates the nonlinear vibration of the piezoelectric nanobeams based on the nonlocal theory and Timoshenko beam theory. The piezoelectric nanobeam is subjected to an applied voltage and a uniform temperature change. The nonlinear governing equations and boundary conditions are derived by using the Hamilton principle and discretized by using the differential quadrature (DQ) method. A direct iterative method is employed to determine the nonlinear frequencies and mode shapes of the piezoelectric nanobeams. A detailed parametric study is conducted to study the influences of the nonlocal parameter, temperature change and external electric voltage on the size-dependent nonlinear vibration characteristics of the piezoelectric nanobeams.