Buckling instabilities in coupled nano-layers

We study the dynamic buckling of a pair of dissimilar Euler–Bernoulli beams subject to compressive edge loading whose transverse displacements are coupled through non-linear interactions, a problem motivated by the mechanics of graphene layers. The transverse coupling models van der Waals interaction and is derived from a Lennard-Jones 12–6 potential. The beams are assumed to be a fixed distance apart at their ends, although this distance is not necessarily equal to the equilibrium distance as identified from the Lennard-Jones potential. Therefore, the equilibrium configuration is not necessarily straight. Via a Galerkin method, the governing equations are reduced to a system that can be used to calculate equilibrium configurations as well as the stability of these configurations. We show that the buckling instability in this model is significantly affected by the presence of the interaction force as well as the separation of the graphene layers at the boundaries.