Fracture behaviour of cracked nanobeams by means of the stress-driven non-local model

In the present paper, the Mixed Mode fracture behaviour of nanobeams under static loading is investigated by using the stress-driven nonlocal theory of elasticity, according to the Bernoulli-Euler beam theory. More precisely, an edge-cracked nanobeam is examined. Such a cracked nanobeam is modelled by using a modification of the classical cracked-beam theory, consisting in dividing the nanobeam into two beam segments connected through a massless elastic rotational spring located at the cracked cross-section. The deflection is obtained for different values of both relative crack depth and crack orientation. Further, the dimensionless transversal displacement along the beam length is determined considering a crack length equal to half of the beam height and characterised by different orientations.