A new mindlin FG plate model incorporating microstructure and surface energy effects

In this paper, the classical continuum mechanics is adopted and modified to be consistent with the unique behavior of micro/nano solids. At first, some kinematical principles are discussed to illustrate the effect of the discrete nature of the microstructure of micro/nano solids. The fundamental equations and relations of the modified couple stress theory are derived to illustrate the microstructural effects on nanostructures. Moreover, the effect of the material surface energy is incorporated into the modified continuum theory. Due to the reduced coordination of the surface atoms a residual stress field, namely surface pre-tension, is generated in the bulk structure of the continuum. The essential kinematical and kinetically relations of nano-continuums are derived and discussed. These essential relations are used to derive a size-dependent model for Mindlin functionally graded (FG) nano-plates. An analytical solution is derived to show the feasibility of the proposed size-dependent model. A parametric study is provided to express the effect of surface parameters and the effect of the microstructure couple stress on the bending behavior of a simply supported FG nano plate.