Finite element modeling of magnetoelectric laminate composites in considering nonlinear and load effects for energy harvesting

This paper presents the finite element analysis of a magnetoelectric energy harvester using a laminate composite constituted of laminated piezoelectric and magnetostrictive layers. In this study, both the nonlinear characteristics of the material and the dependency on the load impedance are considered. The multiphysics problem involving different physics equations is solved through a strongly coupled model. The nonlinear magnetostrictive behavior is considered using the Newton-Raphson method for various magnetic biases. The electrical circuit equation is incorporated in the finite element equations for the analysis load effect. The obtained results show a good concordance with the measurements and with those obtained by other analytical methods. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.