A Numerical Exploration of Nonlinear Microscale Elastic Structures

Micro and nanoscale elastic structures at room temperature exhibit stochastic dynamics that are driven by Brownian motion. Measuring and interpreting the mechanical motion of these structures in the linear regime form the centerpiece of many important technologies. Typical elastic structures include cantilevers, doubly-clamped beams, and nanostrings for use as biomolecular sensors, spectrometers, thermometers, etc. With the advance of 3D printing technologies, it is now possible to build complex three-dimensional elastic structures at the micron and nanoscales. This provides access to a large parameter space where nonlinearities of the elastic structure can have a significant effect upon the dynamics. In this poster we explore the elastic properties of micron scale three-dimensional structures designed to exhibit behavior beyond that of a Hookean spring. Using finite element numerical simulations, we quantify several elastic objects of interest that have been tailored to probe their nonlinear response. Guided by simplified models, we discuss the expected stochastic dynamics that these devices would yield if excited by Brownian motion.