Numerical Simulation of Bimorph Piezoelectric Beam with Circular Holes

With the growing demand for energy, the world is facing an energy shortage. Meeting energy needs through fossil fuels exacerbates the problems of global warming and pollution. Therefore, to curb global warming and pollution, the world is looking for cleaner energy sources and power generation techniques. In addition, recent developments in microelectronics have led the world to capture the mechanical energy of vibrations occurring in the environment and convert it directly into electrical energy. The utilization of piezoelectric materials and piezoelectric carriers as actuators and sensors has made these a widely used energy production technique. In this paper, the authors have investigated the effects of reducing the volume of piezoelectric material on the natural frequency and mode shapes of bimorph rectangular cantilevers. The output voltage of rectangular cantilever beams activated at a resonant frequency was simulated using the COMSOL Multiphysics program. The voltage is predicted to be the highest for the beam with the most holes. Also, simulated voltages are validated against the reported literature available. © 2022, The Institution of Engineers (India).