Effects of local thickness defects on the buckling of micro-beam

A buckling model of Timoshenko micro-beam with local thickness defects is established based on a modified gradient elasticity. By introducing the local thickness defects function of the micro-beam, the variable coefficient differential equations of the buckling problem are obtained with the variational principle. Combining the eigensolution series of the complete micro-beam with the Galerkin method, we obtain the critical load and buckling modes of the micro-beam with defects. The results show that the depth and location of the defect are the main factors affecting the critical load, and the combined effect of boundary conditions and defects can significantly change the buckling mode of the micro-beam. The effect of defect location on buckling is related to the axial gradient of the rotation angle, and defects should be avoided at the maximum axial gradient of the rotation angle. The model and method are also applicable to the static deformation and vibration of the micro-beam.