Abstract
This paper deals with electrostatically actuated carbon nanotube (CNT) cantilever over a parallel ground plate. Three forces act on the CNTs cantilever, namely electrostatic, van der Waals, and damping. The van der Waals force is significant for values of 50 nm or less of the gap between the CNT and the ground plate. As both forces electrostatic and van der Waals are nonlinear, and the CNTs electrostatic actuation is given by AC voltage, the CNT undergoes nonlinear parametric dynamics. The methods of multiple scales and reduced order model (ROM) are used to investigate the system under soft AC near half natural frequency of the CNT and weak nonlinearities. The frequency–amplitude response and damping, voltage, and van der Waals effects on the response are reported. It is showed that only five terms ROM predicts and accurately predicts the pull-in instability and the saddle-node bifurcation, respectively.
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