2014 Middle East Conference on Biomedical Engineering (MECBME)
February 17-20, 2014, Hilton Hotel, Doha, Qatar
An Iterative Finite Difference Scheme for Buckling of
Graphene Beam Subject to Axial Compressive Load
Mohamed B. Elgindi1 , Dongming Wei2
Mohammed A. Ghazy3∗†‡§
Abstract
In this paper buckling loads and modes of an Eu-
ler beam made of graphene are considered. An eigen-
value problem is formulated with an additional param-
eter representing material’s elastoplasticity. Analytical
approximate solution using the perturbation method is
presented. This approximate solution is used as a ba-
sis for an iterative finite difference scheme to develop a
more accurate solution. Deflection at points along the
beam are calculated using this iterative finite difference
scheme. Convergence with good accuracy is achieved.
1. INTRODUCTION
Graphene material has unique properties for poten-
tial applications in engineering, industry, and biomed-
ical fields [1-6]. Experiments on a single, of atomic
thickness, graphene layer showed that graphene is the
strongest, stiffest, and toughest material [7]. One of its
properties is the nonlinear stress strain relation which
leads to different buckling or failure behavior when ma-
terials or products made of graphene are under loading
conditions. Thus, research focus on quantitatively pre-
dicting geometrical and mechanical properties of prod-
ucts made from graphene, and more importantly pre-
dicting failure of such materials, is required.
Modeling the mechanical properties of graphene
was emphasized in the literature [2-12]. One of these
models is deformable tension-shear model (DTS) de-
veloped by Yilun Liu et al to express the mechani-
cal properties of graphene papers [6]. Sound model
should represent the microstructue of graphene and
matches the experimental data. Then, the problem of
∗1 Professor,
Texas A & M University-Qatar
mohamed.elgindi@qatar.tamu.edu
†2 Professor, University of New Orleans dwei@uno.edu
‡3 Associate Post Doctor, Texas A & M University at Qata,
mohammed.ghazy@qatar.tamu.edu
§3 Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Mathematics
and Physics, Alexandria University, Egypt.
978-1-4799-4799-7/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
mathematically implementing these models into dif-
ferent applications arose. These properties necessitate
some challenges when solving mathematical models of
a graphene structural element under different loading
conditions [13]. In this sense this work helps in quanti-
tatively study the mechanical properties of graphene.
In this paper the eigenvalue problem related to the
buckling of a graphene beam subject to axial compres-
sive force will be solved numerically for the deflections
and the buckling loads. In the second section an ap-
proximate analytical solution will be introduced using
the perturbation method. In the third section the ap-
proximate analytical solution will be used as a basis for
an iterative finite difference numerical scheme. Conclu-
sions are drawn in the fourth section.
2. SIMPLY SUPPORTED ELASTIC
BEAM
Figure 1 shows a simply supported elastic beam
with length L and an axial compressive load P. If I and
E are the moment of inertia and Young’e modulus of
the beam’s material, the equilibrium differential equa-
tion can be written as
EIv′′′′ + Pv′′ = 0 (1.a)
0<x<L (1.b)
where v is the deflection at a distance x measured along
the longitudinal axis of the beam. We notice that at the
two boundary points both the deflection and the bending
moment vanish. Thus,
v(0) = v′′ (0) = 0, v(L) = v′′ (L) = 0 (1.c)
Integrating (1.a) twice and using the boundary condi-
tions yields,
P
v′′ + λ0 v = 0, λ0 = . (2)
EI
79
 2 |D|I3
where α = PL EI2 , λ = EI2 L and I2 , I3 are the second and
third moments of the beam’s cross-sectional area re-
spectively , with boundary conditions

w(0) = w′′ (0) = 0, w(1) = w′′ (1) = 0 (6.b)

Integrating (6.a) twice and using the boundary condi-

tions one obtains

Figure 1. Simply Supported Elastic Beam un- w′′ − α (|w′′ |w′′ ) + λ w = 0 (7.a)
der Compressive Axial Load

w(0) = w(1) = 0 (7.b)

The general solution of (2) takes the form
To solve (7.a) for the eigen-pairs (λ ,w) a feasible way is
(√ ) (√ ) to build on the solution of (1.a), in case of a small α , to
v(x) = Acos λ0 x + Bsin λ0 x , (3) analytically continue (3) using an asymptotic expansion
of w and λ in terms of α . To this end we write
where A and B are arbitrary constants. Using the bound-
ary conditions in (1.c), the deflection and the corre- w(z; α ) = wi (z)α i , λ (α ) = λi α i (8)
sponding buckling load take the forms
where i = 0, 1, 2, ... is a summation index. Substituting
(8) into (7.a)-(7.b) and equating coefficients of powers
( nπ ) ( nπ )2
of α yields for α 0
vn (x) = sin x , Pn = EI, n = 1, 2, 3... (4)
L L
w′′0 + λ w0 = 0 (9.a)
n = 1 gives the first nontrivial solution known as the first
buckling mode and its corresponding load known as the w0 (0) = w0 (1) = 0 (9.b)
( )2
critical buckling load Pcrit = πL EI.
whose solution is the same as that for the Euler elastic
beam given by (3). For α 1 , we have
3. Buckling of Graphene Beam
w′′1 + λ0 w1 = −w′′2
0 − λ1 w 0 (10.a)
The previous section uses the stress-strain relation
given by Hook’e law σ = E εx and assumes that during w1 (0) = w1 (1) = 0 (10.b)
deformation the cross section of the beam remains per-
pendicular to its axis. Using atomic force microscope and for α 2, we have
(AFM), it is noticed that deflection due to applied force
of graphene materials obeys a nonlinear stress strain re-
w′′2 + λ0 w2 = −2w′′0 w′′1 − λ1 w1 − λ2 w0 (11.a)
lation [5,10-11]
w2 (0) = w2 (1) = 0 (11.b)
σ = E εx + D|εx |εx (5.a)
Solution of (9.a)-(9.b) is the unperturbed solution given
where by
E2
D=− (5.b)
4σmax
λ0 = π 2 , w0 (z) = sin(π z) (12)
is a negative elastic modulus and σmax is the maximum
or failure stress of graphene. (5.b) can be derived by Substituting (12) into (10.a) and using the bound-
setting ddσε = 0 giving the strain value ε = − 2DE
. When ary conditions one obtains
substituting this value in (5.a) it gives the unique value
of the stress σmax . 2π 2 4π π2 π2
Using (5.a) and introducing new dimensionless w1 = (1−2z)cos(π z)+ sin(π z)− cos(2π z)−
3 3 6 2
variables z = Lx , w = Lv the equilibrium equation of the (13.a)
graphene beam can be written as [13] provided that
8π 3
w′′′′ − α (|w′′ |w′′ )′′ + λ w′′ = 0 (6.a) λ1 = − (13.b)
3

80
Substituting (12), (13.a), and (13.b) into (8) one obtains
a two terms perturbation solution
w = w0 + α w1 + O(α 2 ), λ = λ0 + αλ1 + O(α 2 ) (14)
If the amplitude of the unperturbed solution w0 is taken
as unity, it is noteworthy that max|w1 | = 0.8989 and the
second term in the expansion in (8) has the amplitude
0.8989α . Thus, for sufficiently small α the expansion
in (8) converges.
4. Numerical Solution
In this section a finite difference scheme will be
introduced to solve (7.a)-(7.b). The domain z ∈ [0, 1]
will be discretized into m intervals of size h = m1 giving
N = m + 1 nodes. The second derivative is approxi-
mated using the central differencing as
wi+1 − 2wi + wi−1
w′′i = , i = 2, 3, .., N − 1 (15.a)
h2
For the first mode may can set |w′′ | = −w′′ and (7.a) can
be written in the discretized form
wi = f (wi+1 , wi , wi−1 ; λ (α ); α ; h), i = 2, 3, .., N − 1
(15.b)
To assure convergence of the finite difference algorithm
the perturbation solution will be used as an input when
evaluating wi . It is found that for α = 0.1 and h = 0.05,
after eight iterations, the solution converges with an ac-
curacy of 10−5 . Figure 2 shows the the finite differ-
ence solution w(z) of (15.b), normalized by w′ (0), cor-
responding to the first mode for different values of the
parameter α . It is clear that the deflection increases with
increasing α . The solution is enforced to maintain the
boundaries and the maximum effect occurs at the mid-
point.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The nonlinearity in the stress strain relation for
graphene affects the buckling behavior of a graphene
Euler beam. Approximate analytical perturbation so-
lution and finite difference numerical solution showed
increase in the deflection of the first mode due to the
nonlinearity.
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81
Figure 2. Finite Difference Solution of Euler
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