Primary and secondary resonance analyses of clamped–clamped micro-beams

Nonlinear harmonic vibration of a micro-electro-mechanical beam is investigated, and the micro-actuator, which is considered in this study, is a special kind of electrostatic symmetric actuators. A fully clamped micro-beam with a uniform thickness is modeled as an electrostatic micro-actuator with two symmetric potential walls. The nonlinear forced vibration of the micro-beam is analyzed, and the non-dimensional governing equation of motion, using the Galerkin method, is developed. Higher-order nonlinear terms in the equation of motion are taken into account for the first time, and the perturbation method is utilized regarding these terms and hence, all the resonant cases have been considered. The multiple scales method is employed to solve the nonlinear equations, and therefore, the problem does not deal with the large deformations. The primary and secondary resonance conditions are determined, and the corresponding secular terms in each case are recognized. Harmonic responses are obtained for different cases of resonance, and eventually, the stable and unstable portions of the responses are identified. A parametric sensitivity study is carried out to examine the effects of different parameters on the amplitude–frequency characteristic equations.