Vibration of nonlocal Timoshenko beams

This paper is concerned with the free vibration problem for micro/nanobeams modelled after Eringen's nonlocal elasticity theory and Timoshenko beam theory. The small scale effect is taken into consideration in the former theory while the effects of transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia are accounted for in the latter theory. The governing equations and the boundary conditions are derived using Hamilton's principle. These equations are solved analytically for the vibration frequencies of beams with various end conditions. The vibration solutions obtained provide a better representation of the vibration behaviour of short, stubby, micro/nanobeams where the effects of small scale, transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia are significant. The exact vibration solutions should serve as benchmark results for verifying numerically obtained solutions based on other beam models and solution techniques. © IOP Publishing Ltd.