Buckling and postbuckling behaviors of cracked nanobeams made of single-crystalline nanomaterials are investigated. The nonlocal elasticity theory is used to model the nonlocal interatomic effects on the beam’s performance accounting for the beam’s axial stretching via von Karman nonlinear theory. The crack is then represented as torsional spring where the crack severity factor is derived accounting for the nonlocal features of the beam. By converting the beam into an equivalent infinite long plate with an edge crack subjected to a tensile stress at the far field, the crack energy release rate, intensity factor, and severity factor are derived according to the nonlocal elasticity theory. An analytical solution for the buckling and the postbuckling responses of cracked nonlocal nanobeams accounting for the beam axial stretching according to von Karman nonlinear theory of kinematics is derived. The impacts of the nonlocal parameter on the critical buckling loads and the static nonlinear postbuckling responses of cracked nonlocal nanobeams are studied. The results indicate that the buckling and postbuckling behaviors of cracked nanobeams are strongly affected by the crack location, crack depth, nonlocal parameter, and length-tothickness ratio.

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