Mechanical Behavior of Multiple Edge-Cracked Nanobeams by Taking Into Account the Multiple Cracks Effects

By exploiting the stress-driven model, within the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, a novel nonlocal analytical model is proposed in order to simulate the mechanical behavior of multiple edge–cracked nanobeams by taking into account the multiple cracks effects. According to the present model, the nanobeam is split in correspondence with each of the $n$ edge cracks, thus obtaining $n+1$ beam segments, connected to each other by means of massless elastic rotational springs. Firstly, the proposed model is validated by considering experimental data available in the literature, related to bending tests on two cantilever microbeams, each of them containing a single edge crack (i.e., $n=1$). Then, the model is employed to simulate a bending test on a cracked cantilever microbeam containing two edge cracks (i.e., $n=2$) and a parametric study is performed by varying both the crack depth, the distance between cracks, and the characteristic length of the material in order to investigate the influence of such parameters on the microbeam mechanical response.