Piezoelectric Transverse Shear Actuation and Sensing of Plates, Part 2: Application and Analysis

An exact three-dimensional mixed state space formulation has been presented in Part 1 of this paper for the piezoelectric transverse shear actuation and sensing of plates. In this second part, its application to three-layer adaptive plates with piezoceramic core is studied theoretically and numerically for validation purpose. Then, a detailed parametric analysis is conducted to investigate the influence of several parameters such as, the plate thickness ratio, the piezoceramic core thickness, the mechanical and electric loading amplitudes, and the piezoceramic sensor/actuator position through a multilayer cross-ply hybrid laminate. It was found that, to represent both sensing and actuation behaviors, mechanical in-plane displacements and transverse deflection should be taken layerwise linear (in “zig-zag”) and constant through the plate thickness, respectively. The electric potential was found always linear inside the piezoceramic layer. Variation of the piezoceramic core thickness did not affect much the distributions patterns. However, the induced plate voltage and center deflection under varied mechanical and electric loading amplitudes were found to be proportional to the applied mechanical load and actuation voltage. The optimum position of the piezoceramic transverse shear sensor/actuator through-the-thickness of a multilayer cross-ply hybrid plate was found to be at its mid-plane. These results are useful for future reference and comparison with other approximate analytic and numerical solutions. They can also be used to construct such two-dimensional models.