A mathematical model in three-dimensional piezoelectric continuum to predict non-linear responses of piezoceramic materials

Abstract It has been experimentally observed that the piezoceramic materials exhibit different types of non-linearities under different combinations of electrical and mechanical fields. When excited near resonance in the presence of weak electric fields, they exhibit typical non-linearities similar to a Duffing oscillator such as jump phenomena and the presence of superharmonics in the response spectra. In this work, these non-linearities have been modelled for a generalized three-dimensional piezoelectric continuum using higher-order quadratic and cubic terms in the electric enthalpy density function and the virtual work. The identification of the parameters of the model requires a closed form solution for non-linear response of a simplified geometry. A simple proportional damping formulation has been used in the model. Experiments have been conducted on rectangular and cylindrical geometries of piezoceramic PIC 181 at different magnitudes of applied electric fields and results have been compared with those of simulation.