Electroelastic modeling of thin-laminated composite plates with surface-bonded piezo-patches using Rayleigh–Ritz method

Laminated composite panels are extensively used in various engineering applications. Piezoelectric transducers can be integrated into such composite structures for a variety of vibration control and energy harvesting applications. Analyzing the structural dynamics of such electromechanical systems requires precise modeling tools which properly consider the coupling between the piezoelectric elements and the laminates. Although previous analytical models in the literature cover vibration analysis of laminated composite plates with fully covered piezoelectric layers, they do not provide a formulation for modeling the piezoelectric patches that partially cover the plate surface. In this study, a methodology for vibration analysis of laminated composite plates with surface-bonded piezo-patches is developed. Rayleigh–Ritz method is used for solving the modal analysis and obtaining the frequency response functions. The developed model includes mass and stiffness contribution of the piezo-patches as well as the two-way electromechanical coupling effect. Moreover, an accelerated method is developed for reducing the computation time of the modal analysis solution. For validations, system-level finite element simulations are performed in ANSYS software. The results show that the developed analytical model can be utilized for accurate and efficient analysis and design of laminated composite plates with surface-bonded piezo-patches.