Deflection and stress analysis of piezoelectric laminated composite plate under variable polynomial transverse loading

Among many smart materials, piezoelectric materials have emerged as the most studied ones for practical applications. They owe their success to several factors, including low price, high bandwidth, availability in various formats, and ease of handling and implementation. The present study focused on the performance of piezoelectric laminated composite plate under various electromechanical loading conditions by utilizing the first-order shear deformation theory with the Newton–Raphson residual and iteration with Gauss integration point in Ansys. For the first time, the effects of electrical loading, circuit arrangement, voltage variation, and polynomial variable transverse loading are studied over piezoelectric composite plate (PCP). The effects of plate aspect ratio, thickness ratio, boundary conditions, ply orientations, nature of loading conditions, and voltage variation are presented. The study also utilized open and close circuit arrangements as sensors and actuators to gauge the performance of PCP in the form of static bending analysis. The maximum OC (open circuit) output voltage is generated with the N4 type of loading compared with Ni (i = 1–4); on the other hand, the OC output voltage is minimum with N5. The combined effect of external load and voltage presented in the study will be useful for analyzing the deflection variation, and it can further be implemented in reducing deflection or vibration. It is noted that, with a higher piezoelectric to laminate thickness (t/h) ratio, the maximum OC output voltage is observed. In addition, the rate of voltage generation observed is the highest under the N4 loading condition and the lowest under the N5 type of load.