A size-dependent electro-mechanical buckling analysis of flexoelectric cylindrical nanoshells

In this paper, a buckling analysis for flexoelectric cylindrical nanoshells under axial compression is performed by considering the higher-order shear deformation theory and non-uniform pre-buckling deformation. Size-dependent critical buckling stresses and buckling mode shapes are obtained by the Galerkin's method with newly proposed displacement functions. Numerical results are compared with existing solutions and excellent agreements are observed. Furthermore, a comprehensive parametric study of boundary conditions, geometrical parameters and applied electric voltage is carried out to reveal the influence of flexoelectric effect on the size-dependent buckling characteristics of flexoelectric cylindrical nanoshells.