A novel rate-independent hysteresis model of a piezostack actuator using the congruency property

This paper presents a novel hysteresis prediction model for a piezostack actuator. The model proposed in this work is a type of rate-independent hysteresis and is formulated using the inherent congruency property which exists in most piezoelectric materials. Specifically, the model is established by exploiting the fact that the high-order hysteretic curve segment is congruent with its first-order one that is limited by the same consecutive maximum and minimum values of input. Thus, in order to successfully implement this model two discretized first-order datasets of the ascending and descending curves need to be experimentally identified in advance. Using both the identified datasets and the congruency property, a systematic approach for predicting the hysteresis of the piezostack actuator is then obtained in two cases of input voltage: monotonic ascending and monotonic descending. The developed model is experimentally realized in order to demonstrate the effectiveness on the hysteresis prediction. In the experiment, three waveforms of input excitation schemes—a triangular waveform of decreasing amplitude, a triangular waveform of increasing amplitude and a multi-extremes triangular waveform—are applied to the proposed model. The hysteresis characteristics of the piezostack actuator predicted from the proposed model are compared with those obtained from the classical Preisach model. It is shown that the proposed model gives better accuracy, less computation time for the hysteresis prediction and more feasibility to realize than the classical Preisach model.