Efficient modeling of smart piezoelectric composite laminates: a review

Current research issues in the development of efficient analysis models and their efficient numerical implementation for smart piezoelectric laminated structures are discussed in this paper. The improved zigzag theories with a layerwise quadratic variation of electric potential have emerged as the best compromise between accuracy and cost for hybrid composite, sandwich and FGM beams and plates. The concept of associating surface potentials to electric nodes and internal potentials to physical nodes is very effective in modeling the equipotential electroded surfaces. Unified formulations for shear and extension mode actuation, and modeling of piezoelectric composite actuators and sensors are discussed. Future challenge lies in developing efficient theories capable of predicting the interlaminar transverse shear stresses in hybrid laminates directly from the constitutive equations.