Electroelastic analysis of two-dimensional ultrathin layered piezoelectric films by an advanced boundary element method

The aim of the present study is to present an effect boundary element method (BEM) for electroelastic analysis of ultrathin piezoelectric films/coatings. The troublesome nearly singular integrals, which are crucial in applying the BEM for thin-structural problems, are calculated accurately by using a nonlinear coordinate transformation method. The advanced BEM presented requires no remeshing procedure regardless of the thickness of the thin structure. Promising BEM results with only a small number of boundary elements can be achieved with the relative thickness of the thin piezoelectric film is as small as 10(-8), which is sufficient for modeling many ultrathin piezoelectric films as used in smart materials and micro-electro-mechanical systems. The present BEM procedure with thin-body capabilities is also extended to general multidomain problems and used to model ultrathin coating/substrate piezoelectric structures. The influence of relative layer-to-substrate thickness and the bimaterial mismatch parameters are carefully investigated. Excellent agreement between numerical and theoretical solutions has been demonstrated.