Thermopiezoelastic snapping of piezolaminated plates using layerwise nonlinear finite elements

Abstract

The thermopiezoelastic snapping phenomena of piezolaminated plates are numerically simulated by applying a cylindrical are-length scheme to Newton-Raphson method. Based on the layer,vise displacement theory and von Karman strain-displacement relationships, nonlinear finite element formulations are derived for thermopiezoelastic composite plates. From the static and dynamic viewpoint, nonlinear thermopiezoelastic behavior and vibration characteristics are investigated for symmetric and eccentric structural models with variouspiezoelectric actuation modes, Present results show the possibility to enhance the performance of thermal structures using piezoelectric actuators and report new phenomena, namely thermopiezoelastic snapping, induced by the excessive piezoelectric actuation in the active suppression of thermally buckled large deflection of piezolaminated plates.