Wave Propagation in Electromechanical Structures: Induced by Surface-Bonded Piezoelectric Actuators

Surface-bonded piezoelectric actuators can be used to generate Rayleigh wave for monitoring surface damages of structures. This paper provides an analytical and numerical study to simulate the wave propagation in an elastic half plane with surface-bonded piezoceramic actuators under high-frequency electric loads. Based on a one dimensional actuator model, the wave propagation induced by a single actuator is studied first by using integral transform method and solving the resulting integral equations. The single actuator solution is then implemented into a Pseudo-incident wave method to study the wave propagation induced by multiple actuators. Two aspects of the work are examined. The first is concerned with the determination of the effect of the geometry, the material mismatch and the loading frequency upon the resulting waveform, while the second is concerned with the effect of the interaction between actuators upon the induced wave propagation.