A coupled finite element method for composite laminated cylindrical shells with piezoelectric layers using Layerwise theory

A piezoelectric-mechanical coupled finite element model of composite laminated shells with piezoelectric layers was presented. The Reddy's layerwise laminate theory was used to derive the according expressions of strains and electric field, the Euler-Lagrange equations were obtained by employing Hamilton's principle and variational method, and then a finite element model and the according piezoelectric-mechanical coupled stiffness were formulated based on the developed layerwise mechanics. Numerical examples were implemented to evaluate the efficiency and accuracy of the present method by comparing with the results obtained with classical laminated plate theory. The effects of radius to thickness ratio of a simply-supported laminated piezoelectric composite shell for static response were also investigated in the end.