Abstract. In this paper an analysis of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is performed by using the recently developed radial basis function (RBF) collocation method. Formulations for both static and dynamic analyses of electroactuated beams are derived. The spatial variables in the formulated model are approximated by the RBF whilst the central difference scheme and Newmark scheme are adopted to integrate the ordinary differential equations with respect to time. The Newton–Raphson scheme is also utilized to solve effectively the system of nonlinear equations resulting from the electric force. Numerical validations show that, with only a few nodes used in the computation, the RBF collocation method gives an identical result to other numerical methods, such as the reproducing kernel particle method, and experiments. The effects of residual stress and initial gap length on the pull-in voltage are also investigated.

Print publication: Issue 6 (December 2005)
Received 10 September 2004, in final form 6 July 2005
Published 20 September 2005