Nonlinear electromechanical bending of bi-modular piezoelectric laminated beams

In this paper, the nonlinear electromechanical bending of a bi-modular piezoelectric laminated beam is studied based on the principle of minimum potential energy and the Adomian decomposition method. The different tensile-compressive Young's modulus of the core and piezoelectric layers, and the different tensile-compressive piezoelectric coefficients are considered. The electromechanical governing equations and related boundary conditions are obtained by using the principle of minimum potential energy. The deflection, neutral layer and interlaminar stresses of the beam are solved by the Adomian decomposition method and the iterative method, and verified by the finite element model and Galerkin's method. Results show that the applied voltage and the bimodular characteristics affect the position of the neutral layer and the interlaminar stresses. Compared with the bi-modular properties of the core layer, the influences of the bi-modular properties of the piezoelectric layer on the neutral layer are relatively unobvious. In addition, the interlaminar stresses between the piezoelectric layer and core layer can be increased or decreased, depending on the relative magnitude of the applied voltage ratio and the bi-modular ratio. The results obtained are helpful for the analysis of the electromechanical coupling mechanism and design of piezoelectric composites and structures with bi-modular characteristics.