LOW-VELOCITY GLOBAL-LOCAL IMPACT RESPONSE OF SMART COMPOSITE AND SANDWICH COMPOSITE PLATES WITH PIEZOELECTRIC TRANSDUCERS

Higher-order layerwise piezoelectric laminate mechanics are presented for predicting the low-velocity impact response of pristine composite and sandwich composite plates with piezoelectric transducers. The present formulation enables prediction of the global (temporal variation of impact force, deflection, strain and sensory potential) and local through thickness (distribution of displacement, stress and strain) impact response of plates with piezoelectric layers or patches. Its enhanced capabilities include efficiency in terms of computational cost, since the system matrices are reduced by means of a Guyan scheme or by using the eigenvectors, thus leading to a plate-impactor system containing a single or two deflection amplitudes per vibration mode, depending on consideration of transverse compressibility. The transfer of the plate-impactor system to state-space enables investigation of the feasibility of real-time active control towards impact force reduction by using output feedback control laws.