Surface effects on the bending, buckling and free vibration analysis of magneto-electro-elastic beams

Surface effects are responsible for the size dependence and should be taken into account for dielectric structures at nanoscale dimensions. By incorporating the effects of surface stress, surface piezoelectricity, surface elasticity and surface piezomagneticity, this paper investigates the bending, buckling and free vibration of magneto-electro-elastic (MEE) beams based on the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory. The governing differential equation and its corresponding boundary conditions are derived by Hamilton’s principle. The analytical solutions for the magneto-electro-elastic bending deflection, buckling magnetic potentials and frequency equations of MEE beams are obtained. In contrast to the previously published works, the positive surface stress is found to stiffen the MEE beams, as evidenced by the decrease in the deflections, the increase in the buckling magnet potentials and the increase in the resonant frequencies. Numerical studies show the importance of the surface effects, the electric and magnetic potentials and boundary conditions on the static and dynamic behavior of MEE beams. This work may be of special interest in the design and application of smart composite MEE beams.