Analysis of transient responses in piezoelectric laminates excited by coupled electro-mechanical loads

A hybrid numerical method was proposed for the analysis of transient responses subjected to coupled electro-mechanical loads in piezoelectric laminates. The displacement and electro-potential fields were discretized in the thickness direction of the laminates. The governing equations were determined by the coupled electroelastic theory and Hamilton principle. The modal analysis and Fourier transformation were introduced to formulate the displacement and electro-potential field in the wave-number domain. The transient responses were obtained by employing the inverse Fourier transformation. The results of the numerical example provide the transient responses excited by the coupled electro-mechanical line load in a PZT-5A/0° PVDF composite plate. The dynamic characteristics of this type of piezoelectric laminates are described. The finite element method, the Fourier transformation and modal analysis are effectively combined in the present method. Much fewer elements are needed especially for analyzing the transient responses excited by loads with high frequency. The present method is flexible to deal with piezoelectric laminates consisting of any type of piezoelectric materials excited by any electro-mechanical loads.