Coupling of hierarchical piezoelectric plate finite elements via Arlequin method

Coupling of piezoelectric plate elements based on different through-the-thickness expansions and variational principles through the Arlequin method is proposed in this article. Computational cost is reduced assuming refined models only in those zones of the structure where high accuracy is needed. Piezoelectric finite elements are formulated on the basis of a unified formulation. Higher order, layer-wise and mixed finite elements are easily obtained via unified formulation. This formulation is extended to the Arlequin method in the piezoelectric context to derive matrices related to coupling zones. Two electro-mechanical coupling operators are proposed. Multilayered plates are investigated. Numerical results show that the Arlequin method in the context of unified formulation couples sub-domains having different piezoelectric finite elements effectively.