A proposition: feasibility of classical plate theory on bending monolayer graphene

Abstract In this paper, we carry out a comparison study between classical plate theory and ‘bottom to top’ atomistic-continuum multiscale model regarding the prediction of bending of monolayer graphene to state the general feasibility of classical plate theory. We replace the commonly used interlayer spacing value by the newly launched intrinsic material thickness value as the monolayer graphene thickness. Based on this correction, we amend the flexural rigidity and find that classical plate theory gives a much better prediction of the force-bending deflection curve for various graphene obtained by the atomistic-continuum multiscale approach. The onset of weak nonlinearity observed by the atomistic-continuum approach is at a midpoint deflection of ∼0.01 nm, approximately 0.14 w / h ratio, which secondarily confirm the feasibility of our newly proposed intrinsic material thickness value. The effect of boundary constraint, graphene size and loading mode on the bending of graphene is discussed to explain the cause of deviation between the two methods, and finally we confirm the feasibility of classical plate theory on bending monolayer graphene.