INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING

Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)

FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR ANISOTROPIC

COUPLED PIEZOELECTRO-HYGRO-THERMO-VISCOELASTO-
DYNAMIC PROBLEMS

SUNG YI1;∗ , SHIH FU LING1 , MING YING1 , HARRY H. HILTON2 AND JACK R. VINSON3
1 School of Mechanical and Production Engineering; Nanyang Technological University; Singapore 639798;
Republic of Singapore
2 Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering Department and National Center for Supercomputing Applications;
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; 104 South Wright Street; MC-236 Urbana; IL 61801-2935; U.S.A.
3 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Center for Composite Materials; University of Delaware;
126 Spencer Laboratory; Newark; DE 19716-3140; U.S.A.

SUMMARY
A nite element algorithm has been developed for the ecient analysis of smart composite structures with
piezoelectric polymer sensors or=and actuators based on piezoelectro-hygro-thermo-viscoelasticity. Variational
principles for anisotropic coupled piezoelectro-hygro-thermo-viscoelasto-dynamic problems have also been
proposed in this study. As illustrative studies, dynamic responses in laminated composite beams and plates
with PVDF sensors and actuators are obtained as functions of time using the present nite element procedures.
The voltage feedback control scheme is utilized. The proposed numerical method can be used for analysing
problems in the design of smart structures as well as smart sensors and actuators. Copyright ? 1999 John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

KEY WORDS: nite element analysis; smart materials; PVDF; piezoelectro-hygro-thermo-viscoelasticity

1. INTRODUCTION

Recently, the introduction of active, adaptive, smart or intelligent materials such as piezoelectric
materials, shape-memory alloys, electrostrictive materials, magnetostrictive materials, electrorheo-
logical uids, etc., has created many new concepts and paradigms for system control and design
in a wide range of disciplines. The advantage of incorporating these special types of materials into
structures is that the sensing and actuating mechanism becomes part of structures and the adaptive
structures or systems with sensing, actuating, and control functions show a great potential. Many
researchers [1–11] have studied beams, plates and shells bonded or=and embedded with piezoelec-
tric materials and industries as diverse as aerospace, electronics, medical devices, sporting goods,
automobile, construction and marine can benet signicantly from the use of these materials.
The use of piezopolymers such as polarized uoropolymers, Polyvinylidene Flouride (PVDF),
the PVDF family, odd nylons, Vinylidene Cyanide (VDCN) copolymers and polyurea has been

∗Correspondence to: Sung Yi, School of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University,
Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Republic of Singapore. E-mail: msyi@ntu.edu.sg

CCC 0029-5981/99/231531–16$17.50 Received 15 October 1997

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Revised 10 August 1998
1532 S. YI ET AL.

increasing in the applications of sensors and actuators [12]. PVDF is ferroelectric and pyroelectric.
It can be polled as ceramic and crystalline ferroelectrics to make it piezoelectric. It is usually
stretched 4–5 times in size and then polled, and the stretching increases the area and decreases the
thickness proportionally. The advantages of piezopolymers are their low acoustic impedance, tough-
ness, exibility, etc. The acoustic impedance of piezopolymers is closer to that of water, human
tissue and other organic materials than piezoceramics. Moreover, the exibility of piezoelectric
polymers overcomes some of the drawbacks associated with the brittle piezoelectric ceramics.
Piezoelectric polymers can be formed into complex shapes and are much easier to produce in
large surface area. It is well known that polymers exhibits time-dependent behaviour. Polymers
are signicantly aected by time, frequency, temperature and humidity conditions. However, the
eects of time, frequency, and temperature on sensing and actuation abilities of PVDF lms have
not been well understood. Recently, Hilton et al. [13] introduced the general non-linear 3-D large
deformation theory of anisotropic piezoelectro-thermo-viscoelasticity.
In the present study, a numerical algorithm is developed for the ecient analysis of smart
composite structures with piezoelectric polymer sensors or=and actuators based on piezoelectro-
hygro-thermo-viscoelasticity.

2. ANALYSIS

2.1. Electrical and mechanical strain–displacement relationships

In the linear formulation, the strain and displacement elds are assumed innitesimal. The
strain–displacement equations for linear piezopolymers in Cartesian tensor notation are dened as

ij (x; t) = 12 · [ui; j (x; t) + uj; i (x; t)] (1)

where a comma denotes partial dierentiation, i; j = 1; 2; 3, ij are strains, and ui are displacements.
Similarly, the electric eld vector Ei is related to the electric potential V by

Ei = −V; i (2)

2.2. Constitutive relations

Rheological stress–strain relationships for viscoelastic materials subjected to mechanical and

hygrothermal loads are well described in Reference 14. In the principal material co-ordinates xi , the
constitutive relationships for anisotropic linear piezoelectric polymer materials can be explained as
Z z=t
M M 0 @kl ()
ij (x; t) = Cijkl [ (x; t) − M (x; )] d
z=−∞ @
Z z=t
0 @Em ()
− emij [E (x; t) − E (x; )] d
z=−∞ @
Z z=t
T 0 @∗ ()
− Cijkl [T (x; t) − T (x; )] kl d (3)
z=−∞ @

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
 FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR ANISOTROPIC COUPLED PROBLEMS 1533

Z z=t
0 @kl ()
Di (x; t) = eikl [E (x; t) − E (x; )] d
z=−∞ @
Z z=t
0 @Em ()
+ Zmi [D (x; t) − D (x; )] d
z=−∞ @
Z z=t
0 @T ()
+ Pi [P (x; t) − P (x; )] d
z=−∞ @
where ij are stresses at time t, Di are electric displacements, Em are electric eld, emij is the
piezoelectric stress matrix, Zmi is the dielectric constant matrix, Pi are pyroelectric constants, kl
∗ are total strains and free hygrothermal strains, respectively, and the ’s are reduced times,
and kl
which are related to the shift functions.
The hygroscopic and thermal expansion coecients are taken as independent of time, temperature
and moisture and then free hygrothermal strains ij∗ may be dened by

ij∗ (x; t) = ij T (x; t) + ij M (x; t) (4)

where ij and ij are thermal and hygroscopic expansion coecients, respectively, and T (x; t)
and M (x; t) are the temperature and moisture changes related to an unstressed reference state.
The strain transformation between local and global co-ordinate systems can be expressed as
   

 ”xx 
 
 ”11 


 ”yy  
 ”22 


 
 
 

   
”zz −1 ”33
= Tm (5)

 ”xy 
 
 ”12 


 ”yz 
  
 ”23 


  
 
   
”xz ”13

where Tm is the co-ordinate transformation matrix.

The electric eld with respect to the global axes can be dened as
   
 Ex   E1 
Ey = Te−1 E2 (6)
   
Ez E3

where Te is the co-ordinate transformation matrix from material Cartesian co-ordinates to global
Cartesian co-ordinates.
Similarly, stresses and electric displacements with respect to the global axes can be obtained.
Consequently, the transformed electro-thermo-mechanical material properties with respect to the
global co-ordinates can be described in the matrix notation as
 = Tm
C(t) −1
CTm
 = Te−1 eTm
e(t) (7)

Z(t) = Te−1 ZTe

where overbar denotes laminate co-ordinates. Note that temperature change T is a scalar which
does not depend on the co-ordinate system.

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
1534 S. YI ET AL.

2.3. Variational formulation for dynamic coupled anisotropic piezohygro-thermo-viscoelasticity

There have been several derivations of variational theorems in quasi-static viscoelasticity.

Gurtin [15] introduced a novel approach for constructing variational principles for linear
viscoelastic problems using convolution integrals. Schapery [16] developed the variational prin-
ciples for steady-state dynamic viscoelastic solutions with and without thermomechanical coupling.
Christensen [17] also proposed the variational theorems for which associated minimum theorems
have been established. Recently, Yi and Hilton [18] proposed variational principles for dynamic
anisotropic hygrothermal viscoelasticity.
In the present study, the variational principle for dynamic anisotropic viscoelastic problems
described in the previous studies [18; 19] is extended for anisotropic piezoelectro-hygro-thermo-
viscoelasticity. The variational principle analogous to Hamilton’s principle is formulated as
Z " Z 0 =t Z 0 =t Z =t−0 
1 ˙ 0 ˙ 0 0 1 
= ui (x; t −  )ui (x;  ) d + C ijkl
v 0 =−∞ 2 0 =−∞ =−∞ 2
0 @ij (x; ) @kl (x; 0 )
×[M (x; t − 0 ) − M (x; )] ·
@ @0
0 @ij (x; ) @E m (x; 0 )
+ emij [E (x; t − 0 ) − E (x; )] ·
@ @0
0 @E i (x; ) @kl (x; 0 )
+ eikl [E (x; t − 0 ) − E (x; )] ·
@ @0
  0
−Z  ij [D (x; t − 0 ) − D0 (x; )] @E i (x; ) · @E j (x;  )
@ @ 0

0
∗
@ij (x; ) @kl (x; 0 )
− C ijkl [M (x; t − 0 ) − M (x; )] ·
@ @0
 #
 P 0 P0 @T (x; ) @E i (x; 0 ) 0
− Pi [ (x; t −  ) −  (x; )] · d d dv
@ @0
Z Z 0 =t 0
@u i (x;  ) 0
−
 i (x; t − 0 ) d d M
M 0 =−∞ @0
Z Z 0 =t  0
−  t − 0 ) @V (x;  ) d0 d
Q(x; E (8)
@ 0
E 0 =−∞

where u i are the displacement vector, C ijkl are transformed moduli in the lamination directions,
is the material density, v is the viscoelastic solid volume and M and E are the surfaces on
which tractions
 i and surface charge Q are applied, respectively.

2.4. Finite element formulations

The general nite element formulation for the dynamic analysis of anisotropic coupled piezo-
hygro-thermo-viscoelastic materials is derived using the displacement method.

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
 FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR ANISOTROPIC COUPLED PROBLEMS 1535

The displacement elds within each element are taken as a function of the nodal displacements
by using the 20-node isoparametric solid element

u = NM q(e) (9)

where
 
N1 0 0 ::: N20 0 0
NM =  0 N1 0 ::: 0 N20 0  (10)
0 0 N1 ::: 0 0 N20

q(e) = b u1 v1 w1 : : : u20 v20 w20 cT (11)

In the above, NM is the matrix of isoparametric interpolation functions for a 20-node brick element
and ui ; vi ; wi are the displacements of i-node along x; y; z co-ordinates.
Similarly, the electric potential V within an element can be interpolated by the node electric
potential as

V = NE V(e) (12)

where
NE = bN1 ; N2 ; : : : ; N20 c
V(e) = bV1 ; V2 ; : : : ; V20 cT
The electrical and mechanical strain vectors can then be expressed in terms of nodal displacements
by dierentiating equations (9) and (12) with respect to x; y; z co-ordinates as

U = BM q(e) (13)

and

E = −BE V(e) (14)

Thus combination of equations (13) and (14) leads to

Uˆ = B̂q̂(e) (15)

where

Uˆ = bU;
 −Ec T (16)
 M 
B 0
B̂ = (17)
0 BE

q̂(e) = b u1 v1 w1 : : : u20 v20 w20 V1 : : : V20 cT (18)

By substituting equations (9), (12)–(14) into equation (8) and then taking the rst variation of
the functional , the following nite element equilibrium equations are obtained for each element:
Z =t
@q̂(e) ()
m̂(e) q̂ (e) (t) +
(e) (e) (e)
k̂(e) ( − 0 ) d = f̂ M (t) + f̂ E (t) + f̂ HT (t) (19)
=−∞ @

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
1536 S. YI ET AL.

(e) (e) (e)

where f̂ HT (t) is the hygrothermal residual force, and f̂ M (t) and f̂ E (t) represent the element
residual nodal forces due to applied traction and surface charge, respectively. The element mass
matrix, time-dependent element stiness matrix and residual nodal force vectors can be described
as
Z  MT M 
N N 0
m̂(e) = dv(e) (20)
v (e) 0 0
Z
(e) 0
k̂ ( −  ) = ˆ  − 0 )B̂ dv(e)
B̂T C(x; (21)
v(e)
Z
(e)
f̂ M (t) =
T

bNM
; 0cT d M(e) (22)
(e)
M
Z
(e) T
f̂ E (t) = b0;  Td
NE Qc E(e) (23)
(e)
E
" (e)
#
HT(e) f̂ M; HT (t)
f̂ (t) = (e) (24)
f̂ E; HT (t)
with
" M #
C (x; M − M )
0 0

ˆ  E − E )
e(x;
 − )=
C(x; 0
(25)
0 0
eT (x; E − E ) 
−Z(x; D − D )
Z Z =t ∗
f̂ M; HT(e)
(t) =
T
BM C(x; M − M0 ) @U (x; ) d dv(e) (26)
v(e) =−∞ @
Z Z =t
(e)
f̂ E;HT (t) =
T
 P − P0 ) @T (x; ) d dv(e)
BE P(x; (27)
v(e) =−∞ @
For computational purposes, the relaxation spectra in equations (3) and (7) can be expanded in
terms of Prony series summations and can be rewritten in the matrix form as
M
P
R
 t) =
C(x; ArM · Cr (x; t)
r=1
M
" M
#
P
R N
P r
= ArM · Cr∞ (x) + M
Cr (x) exp(−t=r ) (28)
r=1 =1

where C1 = C1111 ; C2 = C1122 ; : : : ; RM is the number of independent material properties, r

M
are
M M
relaxation times, Nr is the number of series terms, Ar are the transformation coecient matrices
and Cr∞ are the pseudo-equilibrium fully relaxed material properties.
Similarly, the time-dependent piezoelectric, pyroelectric properties and dielectric properties can
be described in terms of Prony series as
" #
RE
P PNrE
E ∞ e
 t) = Ar · er (x) +
e(x; er (x) exp(−t=r ) (29)
r=1 =1

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
 FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR ANISOTROPIC COUPLED PROBLEMS 1537

D
" D
#
P
R Nr
P

Z(x; t) = ArD · Zr∞ (x) + D
Zr (x) exp(−t=r ) (30)
r=1 =1

P
" P
#
P
R Nr
P
 t) =
P(x; ArP · Pr∞ (x) + P
Pr (x) exp(−t=r ) (31)
r=1 =1

where RE , RD , and RP are the number of independent material properties, r E D

, r P
, and r are
E D P E D P
relaxation times, Nr , Nr , and Nr are the number of series terms, and Ar , Ar , and Ar are the
transformation coecient matrices.
Then equation (25) becomes
" #
P
R P
Nr
ˆ t) = Ar · Ĉ r (x) +
C(x;
∞
Ĉ r (x) exp(−t=r ) (32)
r=1 =1

where R = RM + Re + RE .
Substituting equation (32) into equations (21), (26) and (27) yields the following nite element
kernel and residual force vectors:
( )
(e) 0 P R
(e) P
Nr
(e) 0
k̂ ( −  ) = k̂r + k̂r exp[−(r − r )=r ] (33)
r=1 =1

and
M
(( M
)
P
R N
P r
M; HT(e)
f̂ (t) = − f̂ r + f̂ r M
exp[−r =r ] · T (0)
r=1 =1
( M
)
N
Pr
+ f̂ r + f̂ r M
exp[−r =r ] · M (0)
=1
Z (( M
)
=t N
P r 0 @T ()
+ f̂ r + f̂ r exp[−(rM − rM )=r
M
] ·
=0 =1 @
( ) ) )
NrM
P 0 @M ()
+ f̂ r + f r exp[−(rM − rM )=r
M
] · d (34)
=1 @
P
(( P
)
P
R Nr
P
E; HT(e)
f̂ (t) = − f̂ P
r + f̂ P
r
P
exp[−r =r ] · T (0)
r=1 =1
Z (( P
) ) )
=t Nr
P 0 @T ()
+ f̂ P
r + f̂ P P P P
r exp[−(r − r )=r ] · d (35)
=0 =1 @
where
Z
k̂r(e) = Ĉ ∞
r B̂T Ar B̂ dv(e)
v(e)

Z
(e)
k̂r = Ĉ r; B̂T Ar B̂ dv(e)
v(e)

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
1538 S. YI ET AL.

Z
T
f̂ r = Cr∞ BM ArM  dv(e)
v(e)

Z
BM ArM ÿ dv(e)
T
f̂ r = Cr∞ (36)
v(e)

Z
T
f̂ r = Cr BM ArM  dv(e)
v(e)

Z
BM ArM ÿ dv(e)
T
f̂ r = Cr
v(e)

Z
T
f̂ P
r = Pr∞ BE ArP dv(e)
v(e)

Z
T
f̂ P
r = Pr BE ArP dv(e)
v(e)

Note that  and ÿ are the transformed coecients of thermal and hygroscopic expansions with
respect to the laminate co-ordinate system. The components of these matrices are shown below:
Q = bx y z yz zx xy cT (37)
R = b x y z yz zx xy cT (38)
Then assembling the nite element matrices into global structure matrices provides the following
integral system equations:
Z =t
 + @q̂()
M̂(x) q̂(t) K̂[(x; t) − 0 (x; )] · d = F̂M (t) + F̂E (t) + F̂HT (t) (39)
=−∞ @

where F̂M (t) and F̂M (t) are the nodal force vectors due to prescribed surface tractions and hygro-
thermal gradients, respectively, and M̂ and K̂ are the global mass and stiness matrices. The global
stiness matrix can be dened as
( )
0 P
R P
Nr
0
K̂( −  ) = K̂r + K̂r exp[−(r − r )=r ] (40)
r=1 =1

in which K̂r and K̂r denote the global matrices assembled from the element matrices k̂r(e) and
(e)
k̂r in equation (33).
The time-dependent global force vectors due to hygrothermal loading can be dened as
(( M
)
RM
P N
Pr
M; HT   M
F̂ (t) = − F̂r + F̂r exp[−r =r ] · T (0)
r=1 =1
( )
NrM
P
+ F̂r + F̂r M
exp[−r =r ] · M (0)
=1

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
 FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR ANISOTROPIC COUPLED PROBLEMS 1539

Z (( M
)
=t N
P r 0 @T ()
+ F̂r + F̂r exp[−(rM − rM )=r
M
] ·
=0 =1 @
( ) ) )
NrM
P 0 @M ()
+ F̂r + F̂r exp[−(rM − rM )=r
M
] · d (41)
=1 @

P
(( P
)
P
R Nr
P
E; HT
F̂ (t) = − F̂P
r + F̂P P
r exp[−r =r ] · T (0)
r=1 =1
Z (( P
)
=t Nr
P 0 @T ()
+ F̂P
r + F̂P
r exp[−(rP − rP )=r ] · (42)
=0 =1 @

Note that F̂r , F̂r , F̂r , F̂r , FP P     P P
r and Fr are assembled from f̂ r , f̂ r , f̂ r , f̂ r , f r and f r which are
shown in equations (34) and (35).
Direct integration of equation (39) demands enormous computing time and memory storage,
since all the previous solutions must be stored in order to evaluate displacements at any specic
time. To avoid these large storage requirements, Yi and Hilton [17] and Yi et al. [18] developed
computationally ecient and accurate algorithms for analysing transient responses of viscoelasti-
cally damped composite structures in the real-time domain. In this present study, Yi and Hilton’s
recursive formula will be utilized.
The nodal displacements and their time derivatives at time t +
t are approximated as follows:
 2
˙
q̂(t +
t) = q̂(t) + q̂(t)
t  +
t)] ·
t
 + q̂(t
+ [q̂(t)
2
˙ +
t) = q̂(t)
q̂(t ˙ + [q̂(t)  +
t)] ·
t
 + q̂(t (43)
2
 + q̂(t
q̂(t)  +
t)
q̂ av (t +
t) =
2
In this procedure, the second displacement derivative with respect to time can be approximated by
@2 q̂(t) ˙ j ) q̂(t

q̂(t ˙ j ) − q̂(t
˙ j−1 )
2
' = = q̂ av (tj ) (44)
@t
tj
tj
with

tj = tj − tj−1 ; tj−1 6t6tj (45)
It is assumed that both hygroscopic and thermal loads are linear during each time interval, i.e.
@T (t)
T (tj ) T (tj ) − T (tj−1 )
' = ; tj−1 6t6tj (46)
@t
tj
tj
@M (t)
M (tj ) M (tj ) − M (tj−1 )
' = (47)
@t
tj
tj
With no loads applied at time t¡0, the initial values for temperature and moisture dierences are

T (0) = T (0)
(48)

M (0) = M (0)

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
1540 S. YI ET AL.

Taking equal size time steps throughout the time history, i.e.

t =
t1 =
t2 ; : : : ; =
tj (49)

and using the above approximations in equations (43) – (49), equation (39) can be expressed in a
recursive form as
(  )
2
PR 2 PNr
1 2 2
· M̂ + K̂r + K̂r · [Sr (tp ) ·
t − Sr (
tp )] 2 q̂(tp )
r=1
t =1
t
(  )
2
M E HT 2 ˙ 
= F̂ (tp ) + F̂ (tp ) + F̂ (tp ) + M̂ [q̂(tp−1 ) + q̂(tp−1 ) ·
t] + q̂(tp−1 )

t
 
PR P Nr d
˙ p−1 ) ·
t] · 2
+ K̂r Sr1
(tp−1 ) · q̂˙ (tp−1 ) − Sr2
(
tp ) · [q(tp−1 ) + q̂(t
r=1 =1
t 2
   
1 2 ˙ p−1 ) − exp[−r (tp )=r ] · q̂(t0 ) − GRr (tp )
+ Sr (tp ) · q̂(tp−1 ) · + q̂(t

t
where
Z tj
1
Sr (tj ) = exp[−(r (tj ) − r0 (s))=r ] ds (50)
Z tj Z s
2 1
Sr (
tj ) = Sr (s0 ) ds0 ds (51)
tj−1

GRr (0) = 0 (52)

GRr (tp ) = exp[−
r (tp )=r ]{K̂tr ·[Sr
1 ˙ p−1 )
(tp−1 )· q̂(t
1
− Sr ˙ p−2 ) − S 2 (
tp−1 )· q̂av (tp−1 )] + GRr (tp−1 )}
(tp−2 )· q̂(t (53)
r

By using the recursive formula for the residual forces, equations (41) and (42) can be reduced to
" M
RM
P N
P r
M; HT     M
F̂ (tp ) = F̂r ·T (tp ) + F̂r ·M (tp ) + [{F̂r ·
T (tp ) + F̂r ·
M (tp )} ·Hr (
tp )
r=1 =1
#
+ GRM;
r
HT
(tp )] (54)

P
" P
#
P
R Nr
P
F̂ E; HT
(tp ) = F̂rP ·T (tp ) + P
[F̂r P
·
T (tp )·Hr (
tp ) + GRE;
r
HT
(tp )] (55)
r=1 =1

where
Z tj
M 1 M
Hr (
tp ) = exp[−
r (tj )=r ] d

tp tj−1
Z tj
P 1 P
Hr (
tp ) = exp[−
r (tj )=r ] d (56)

tp tj−1
M P
Hr (0) = 1; Hr (0) = 1

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
 FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR ANISOTROPIC COUPLED PROBLEMS 1541

GRM;
r
HT M
(tp ) = exp[−
r (tp )=r ]{GRM;
r
HT 
(tp−1 ) + [F̂r ·
T (tp−1 )
 M
+ F̂ ·
M (tp−1 )]·Hr (
tp−1 )} (57)
GRE;
r
HT P
(tp ) = exp[−
r (tp )=r ]{GRE;
r
HT P
(tp−1 ) + F̂r ·
T (tp−1 )
P
× Hr (
tp−1 )} (58)
GRM;
r
HT
(0) = 0; GRE;
r
HT
(0) = 0 (59)

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Two studies are conducted to demonstrate the use of the present nite element procedure for the
analysis of dynamic responses of smart composite structures with piezoelectric polymer sensors
or=and actuators. The rst study concentrates on piezoelastic problems and the second focuses
on piezoviscoelastic ones. As illustrative studies, cantilever beams and plates with piezopolymer
actuators and sensors symmetrically bonded to both surfaces are considered. The problems of
forced oscillations of composite beams and plates are studied.
Consider a thin composite beam with (00 ) laminate orientations subjected to lateral loading.
The nite element model for the beam is divided into 40 elements with 90 nodes. As shown in
Figure 1, the PVDF layers are attached to both the top and bottom surfaces of the composite
beam. The composite beam is under clamped-free boundary conditions. The section dimension of
the beam is 1 mm (height) × 5 mm (width) and the beam length is 100 mm. The thickness of PVDF
layers is 0·1 mm. The material properties of PVDF are given in Table I. The material behaviour of
composite beams and plates is linearly elastic. The orthotropic material properties of composites
are E11 = 12·4 × 1010 N=m 2 , E22 = E33 = 9·653 × 1010 N=m 2 , G12 = G23 = G13 = 6·205 × 109 N=m 2 ,
and 12 = 0·34. The Poisson’s ratios 13 and 23 are assumed to be the same as 12 . The density
of the composite is = 1520 kg=m3 . Time step size is taken as
t = 1 × 10−2 s and shift factors
are taken as 1 and 100 at 25 and 50◦ C, respectively. PVDF polymers are time dependent and the
time function of moduli is taken as
f(t) = 0·2 + 0·3 exp(−t=0·37992) + 0·5 exp(−t=47·6132)

Figure 1. Composite beam with PVDF layers

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
1542 S. YI ET AL.

Table I. The material properties of PVDF

E(N=m 2 )  (kg=m3 ) d32 (C=N) 33 (F=m)
PVDF 2·0 × 109 0·29 1800 2·2 × 1011 1·1 × 10−10

Figure 2. Tip de ections of composite beam controlled by piezoelastic PVDF layers

Isothermal conditions are assumed throughout the loading history. The voltage feedback active
control scheme is used and the control gain is taken as 100. The time-dependent eects of PVDF
layer on the performance of vibration control of multiple laminated composite beams are studied.
The vibration responses for the beam with=without considering the time-dependent behaviour of
PVDF polymers are evaluated. From t = 0 to 2 s, dynamic transverse de ections at the tip of
the beam are displayed in Figures 2 and 3. The results show that vibration amplitudes of beams
signicantly decrease by the active control as well as the viscoelastic damping of PVDF polymers
(Figure 4). After 2 s, the active control alone reduces the vibration amplitudes by 78·4 per cent
while those decrease by 94 per cent with considering both the active control and the time-dependent
behaviour of piezopolymers.
As another demonstration example, clamped square composite plates which are subjected to a
uniformly distributed time-independent pressure p = 103 N=m 2 are considered. The dimensions of
the composite laminate are 200 mm × 200 mm and the thickness of the plate is 1 mm. A total of
108 elements and 1488 degrees of freedom are used for these studies. In these studies, the elastic
orthotropic material properties and the dimensions of the lamina are also the same as those used for
the rst demonstration study. The time-dependent displacement elds in the transverse direction
for the symmetric laminate with (0◦ ) orientations are calculated. The maximum de ections are
observed at the plate centres for all the cases. As illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, the vibration

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
 FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR ANISOTROPIC COUPLED PROBLEMS 1543

Figure 3. Tip de ections of composite beam controlled by piezoviscoelastic PVDF layers at 25◦ C

Figure 4. Composite laminate with PVDF layers

amplitudes for composite laminates under the lateral uniform loading are signicantly reduced by
the active control and the viscoelastic behaviour of piezopolymers. Figure 6 shows that the vibration
amplitudes of composite plates decrease by 91 per cent after 4 s. The transverse de ections of the
plate are calculated at 50◦ C and illustrated in Figure 7. Smaller amplitudes are observed at 50◦ C
than at 25◦ C.

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
1544 S. YI ET AL.

Figure 5. Dynamic de ections of composite laminate controlled by piezoelastic PVDF layers

Figure 6. Dynamic de ections of composite laminate controlled by piezoviscoelastic PVDF layers at 25◦ C

Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)
 FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR ANISOTROPIC COUPLED PROBLEMS 1545

Figure 7. Dynamic de ections of composite laminate controlled by piezoviscoelastic PVDF layers at 50◦ C

4. CONCLUSIONS

In this study, variational principles for anisotropic piezohygro-thermo-viscoelasto-dynamic prob-

lems have been developed and a nite element procedure has been proposed for the ecient
analysis of smart composite structures with piezoelectric polymer sensors or=and actuators based
on piezohygro-thermo-viscoelasticity. Numerical results show that vibration amplitudes of compos-
ites beams and plates signicantly decrease by the active control and the viscoelastic damping of
PVDF polymers.

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Copyright ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. 45, 1531–1546 (1999)