Dr. Chandrashekhar Bendigeri et al.

/ International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology (IJEST)

STUDIES ON ELECTROMECHANICAL
BEHAVIOR OF SMART STRUCTURES
BY EXPERIMENT AND FEM

DR. CHANDRASHEKHAR BENDIGERI

Department of Mechanical Engineering, UVCE, Bangalore University,

Bangalore-560 001, India
And
RITU TOMAR
Faculty, Dept of Physics, Research Center,
Sambhram Institute of Technolgy Bangalore-560 097, India

Abstract
The formulation of the finite element for static analysis has been presented based on isoparametric
formulation. The element considered in the present study is eight noded hexahedral elements. A computer
code based on the above formulation has been developed using MATLAB software to solve the three
dimensional structures integrated with piezoelements. The experiments have been conducted on the
piezoelectric smart structures consisting aluminum beam with piezoelectric materials for deformation
due to applied voltage, steel beam with piezoelectric materials for deformation due to applied voltage and
finally natural frequency for aluminum beam with piezoelectric materials natural frequency is estimated
by application of electromechanical behavior of piezomaterial. The results obtained were used for
validating the present finite element code developed and found to have good agreement

Key Words
Smart structures, Piezoelectric, electromechanical, Finite Element and MATLAB
Introduction
The development of smart composites offers great potential for advanced aerospace structural applications.
Piezoelectric material can be employed as both actuators and sensors in the development of these structures by
taking advantage of direct and converse piezoelectric effects. The effective use of such material on different
application can be done if their behavior is well understood (T. S. Tzou and C. I. Tsen,1990; Sung kyu and
Charles Keillers, 1992; Bahu Sun and Dahuang. 2001). The Finite element method can be used so that number
of iteration can be done to understand and optimize the process. The effective numerical and experimental
methods are needed to evaluate behavior and applications of piezoelectric structures subjected to
electromechanical loading (Benjeddou, and A. Trindade, 1999; B. L. Wang and N. Noda., 2001). In the present
work formulation of a finite element has been done. The implementation of the above formulation has been
done using MATLAB software. The developed code is validated using number of problems involving different
materials such as isotropic, orthotropic and piezoelectric materials and a combination of these materials. One
such example is piezo electric actuation of carbon epoxy beam has been discussed in detail in this paper. The
present solution are compared with result obtained by experimental approaches

Constitutive Equation
The basic constitutive equations for the linear theory of piezoelectric are as follows (IEEE std, 1988).
   C    d E 
D   d T    b E  (1)
where {σ }= {σ11,σ 22, σ 33,σ 23, σ 13 & σ 12}T is the stress vector, {ε} = {ε11,ε 22, ε 33, ε 23, ε13 & ε 12}T Strain
tensor, {E} = {E1,E2 &E3}the electric field, {D} ={D1, D2, &D3}, the electric displacement or Electric flux

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density vector, [C] the elasticity constants matrix, [b] the dielectric constants matrix, [d] the piezoelectric
coupling coefficients matrix or Piezoelectric constants
( E F Crawley and K.B. Lazarus, 1991; Kekana and P. Tabakov, 2005).

Finite Element modeling

In the finite element formulation, the displacements u, v, w and the potentials are approximated as functions of
the nodal displacements u n and nodal potential n where n is node number of the element and the nodal shape
functions N i such that
{u}  [ N u ]{u n }
(2)
{}  [ N  ]{ n }
The electric field vector of an element is represented as follows
{E}  E x , E y , E z  T (3)
where
Ei  i (4)
Consequently
{ }  [ Bu ]{u n }
(5)
{E}  [ B ]{ n }
The matrix [ Bu ] and [ B ] contains the derivatives of the shape functions for the displacements and potentials
which is written as follows
 x 0 0 
0  0 
 y

0 0 z 
[ Bu ]    [N ] (6)
0  z y u
 
 z 0 x 
 y  x 0
 x 
 
[ B ]   y  [ N u ] (7)
 
 z
The external virtual work done by the external mechanical and electrical forces is
Wmech
e
 u n  {F }
(8)
Welect
e
 n  {Q}
Where {F } , {Q} are external mechanical force and electrical charge vectors. Consequently, mechanical and
electrical equilibrium equations can be written as follows

u [B ] ([c][B ]{u }[d][B]{ })dVu {F}

T
n u u n n n (9)
and

 [B ] ([d]T [Bu ]{un}[b][B ]{n})dV n {Q} (10)

T
n

or
([Bu]T[c][Bu]dV){un}([Bu]T[d][B]dV){n}{F}
(11)
([B]T[d]T[Bu]dV){un}([B]T[b][B]dV){n}{Q}
The stiffness matrices are defined as follows

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[ K uu ]   [ Bu ]T [c]Bu ] dV
v

[ K  ]    [ B ]T [b]B ] dV
v
(12)
[ K u ]   [ B ]T [d ]T Bu ] dV
v

[ K u ]  [ K u ]T
[ K uu ]{u n }  [ K u ]{ n }  {F }
[ K u ]{u n }  [ K  ]{ n }  {Q}
Thus, (13)
[ K uu ] [ K u ] {u n } {F }
   
[ K u ] [ K  ]  { n } {Q}

[ K ]{u}  {F } (14)

The above equations are included in formulation of element to add the capability to analyses of piezoelectric
smart structures and the same is coded using MATLAB software.

Experiment Conducted Using Piezoelectric Material

For the purpose of validating the result of developed finite element code experiment was carried out. In this
section a brief description of instrumentation used during the experimentation with smart materials is given.
Figure 1 shows the different instrumentation and a smart beam used in current program (S. Raja and P.
Bhattacharya, 2002)

a. Function Generator: Used for generation of signal

b. Piezo Sensing System : Used for sensing the voltage

c. Active Band Pass Filter : Used for filtering the waves

d. Piezo Actuation System :Used for generation of low current and high voltage source
for driving piezo-actuator
e. Dimmerstat with power transformer: Used to obtain variable DC supply

f. Linear variable differential transformer: Used for measuring the displacement.

Figure 1. The smart structure and the instrumentation used

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Experiment 1
Experiment and analysis of smart beam subjected to voltage
A thick beam made of aircraft quality aluminum alloy is used for conducting experiment. The piezoelectric
patch is mounted on this beam and subjected to electric field. The block diagram of the experiment is shown in
the Figure 2. Geometry of the smart beam is shown in Figure 3(a), and its finite element model is shown in the
Figure 3(b).This case study involves the combination of isotropic and piezoelectric materials.
(A) Specimen preparation
The aluminum beam is machined as per the dimension mentioned in the Figure 3(a). The piezoelectric materials
made of PZT and manufactured by Sparkler Ceramics, Pune is used in the present studies. The piezoelectric
material is fixed on the beam. The procedure for fixing the piezo is explained below

 The emery sheet of zero number is used to rub the beam where piezoelectric material is supposed to be
fixed.
 The carbon tetra chloride is used for cleaning the surface with pure cotton
 The exact location of PZT supposed to fix on the beam is marked.
 Araldite consisting of harder and adhesive is mixed thoroughly until the mixture becomes uniform
(white colour).
 The araldite is smeared on the PZT as well as on the marked place for PZT on the beam
 The PZT is put on the beam and is pressed. Then for twenty four hours it is kept at room temperature
for curing.
 The PZT is supplied with leads known as pig tail from the manufacturer and consisting of positive and
negative terminals
 Another terminal made of small copper strip is used to connect to pig tail and there by connected to the
instrumentation of the experiment (Asan Gani and M. Salami, 2003)

(B) Experimental procedure

The procedure for conducting the experiment is as follows
 The aluminum beam with piezoelectric material is clamped tightly at one side as cantilever.
 The variable DC supply (Dimmerstat with power transformer, variable DC supply 0-200V and 1A) is
applied to PZT on the beam
 The supplied voltage to the PZT on beam causes it to deflect.
 The deflection thus obtained at tip the beam is measured using linear variable differential transformer
with specification of ±1mm, max output 5V, number of digits 5, excitation voltage 1V and frequency 4 KHz

Figure 2 The block diagram of the experiment for smart beam

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(a)Geometry of the smart beam

(b) Finite element model

Figure 3 Geometry of an aluminum beam with piezo actuator and finite element model

(C) Finite element analysis of the beam

The finite element model of the beam is shown in Figure 3(b) and one end of the beam is fixed (Uz=Uy=Uz=0).
The finite element model has 184 elements. The voltage is applied on piezoelement from 50 to 200V insteps of
50V and the resulting tip deflection is determined. These results are given in the Table 1. The present FE results
are compared with experimental results and results obtained using closed form solution. The results of the three
methods are given in Table 1. As can be seen from the table they are in good agreement.
The deflection is determined analytical method using the equations 15
 m*t 
   b
 * l (15)
 2 I b Eb 
Where,  is the deflection m is the moment generated due voltage applied is given by equation
6 * d 31 * V EI b * EI c
m *
tc tb 3EI b  4 EI c
Ib moment inertia of the beam
Ic moment inertia of the piezomaterial
d31= piezoelectric constant
V voltage applied
Eb modulus of the beam
l length of the beam
tc thickness of the piezomaterial
tb thickness of the beam
3
wt
and I b  b b =520.833 mm4 (16)
12
3
wc t c
Ic  =2.0833 mm4 (17)
12
Substituting the value of moment of inertia of the beam and piezomaterial from equations 16 and 17 in 15 and
also substituting other values related to configuration of the problem one can get the final displacement as
follows. For 50 volts substituting the values in the above equation 15 we get

 =24 m

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Table 1 Comparison of experimental, Analytical and FE results for the smart beam

Sl no Voltage Deflection(  m)
applied Analytical Experiment Present code
( Volts)

1 50 24 25 23
2 100 48 51 46
3 150 72 71 69
4 200 96 95 93

Experiement 2
Experiment and analysis of smart beam (Steel and PZT)
An active structural member made of steel, PZT crystal (i.e Lead Zirconium Titanite) is used in this experiment.
Figure 4 shows the geometry of the cantilever beam with piezoelectric actuator. Figure 5 shows the
corresponding the FE model. The finite element model of this configuration consists of 184 elements and 411
nodes.

Figure 4 Dimensions of a beam with piezoelectric material

Figure 5 FE model of the beam with piezo patch

(A) Experimental procedure

LVDT was used to measure static deflection of tip of the beam at the free end of the beam. The signals from the
LVDT were transmitted to displacement indicator, which displays the displacement as output. A block diagram
for the measurement of deflection of beam subjected to voltage is similar to the one shown in the Figure 2

The LVDT was placed at the tip of the beam and the initial deflection was noted. Then voltage to the piezo is
varied from 50 to 200 volts. For the each voltage increment, the corresponding deflection is measured. The

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Figure 6 shows the comparison of the result of static deflection of piezoelectric beam with present results. The
comparison shows good correlation between the two.
Deflection of smart beam

0.15 Present code

Experiment

Deflection (mm)
0.1

0.05

0
0 100 200 300
Voltage (volts)

Figure 6 Comparison of static deflection of piezoelectric smart beam

Experiment 3
Experiment and analysis of smart beam subjected to free vibration

Free Vibration Analysis of smart beam made of Al alloy with PZT patch has been carried out. Figure 7 show the
geometry of the cantilever beam with piezoelectric and Figure 8 shows the FE model. The model consists of 124
elements and 294 nodes. The block diagram of the experimental setup is shown in the Figure 9. A brief
description of the experimental procedure is given below

A) Experimental procedure

 The function generator will generate a sine wave at 10v and this is passed on to the piezo actuator drive
amplifier where it is amplified from 10V to 145V and connected to actuator.
 Then frequency from the signal generator is increased gradually and passed on to the actuator.
 An oscilloscope is attached to sensor and the high amplitude reading on CRO corresponds to the
natural frequency.
First and second natural frequencies are determined experimentally. The high frequencies could not be measured
due to the limitations of the instrumentation used in the present studies.

Figure 7 Diagram of an Al beam with piezoelectric material

Figure 8 F E model of smart beam

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Figure 9The block diagram for the free vibration test of piezoelectric smart structure

Using the present code, a normal mode analysis is carried out to obtain the fundamental natural frequency for
the smart beam with PZT. The results that are obtained from the present code are compared with results
obtained by analytical calculations which is determined using the following equations

(B) Analytical method

Analytical equations pertaining to first fundamental frequency of the beam is given below
Circular frequency ω = Ct *a (18)
L2
Where Ct has the value 3.52 for mode I
22.4 for mode II

61.7 for mode III

121 for mode IV
Where is given as follows

a= E*I (19)
*A

bd 3
and the moment of inertia (I)= (20)
12

Natural Frequency FZ  (21)
2 *
The configuration of the present problem is as follows
Length=L=200mm
Width of the beam (b) =25mm
Depth of the beam (d) = 3mm
Area of cross section (A) =75mm2
Substituting the values of present configuration in the equation 19 and 20 we get following values
Moment of inertia I =56.2 mm4
and a= 4409585
Substituting the value of a in equation 18 we obtain the Circular frequency
ω =388 rad/sec and using equation 21 we obtain first natural frequency as 61 Hz
Similarly the circular frequency for the second mode is obtained using the equation 18 with the value of Ct as
22.4 and hence the natural frequency is obtained by equation 21 as 393 Hz
The natural frequencies for the present configuration are determined by analytical, experimental and finite
element analysis. Table 2 shows comparison of Natural frequencies of piezoelectric smart beam.

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Table 2 Comparison of natural frequencies of smart beam obtained using analytical, experimental and present code

Sl Analytical Experiment Present code

no. method

Natural Natural Natural

Frequency Frequency Frequency
(Hz) (Hz) (Hz)
1 61 58 59
2 393 380 384
3 1082  1043
4 2122  2081

(C)Finite element analysis

In the experiment due to limitation of instruments determination of higher natural frequencies is not possible.
Hence only first two natural frequencies has been determined from the experiment as seen in the Table 2. How
ever the analytical and finite element approach can compute the natural frequency of higher modes. As can be
seen from Table 2 the natural frequency of the smart beam has good agreement among different approach of
estimation.
Conclusions
The finite element code for analysis of smart structures is developed using MATLAB programming language.
Also experiment was carried out on the smart beam with piezoelectric material attached and related instruments
are discussed. Simple experiments are devised to obtain static and dynamic behavior of the smart structure.
These experimental results were also useful to validate the present code. The developed code is validated by
comparing the results of experiments carried out by using piezoelectric material in combination other materials
such as steel and aluminum. The finite element code developed for structure analysis and electromechanical
analysis of the smart composite structure is found to have good agreement with the experimental results.
References

[1] T. S. Tzou and C. I. Tsen. 1990. Distributed piezoelectric sensor/Actuators design for dynamic measurement/control of distributed
parameter systems - A piezoceramic finite element approach, J of Sound Vibrations .
[2] Sung kyu and Charles Keillers. 1992. Finite element analysis of composite structures containing distributed piezoceramic sensors and
actuators. AIAA J, Vol. 30, No. 3.
[3] Bahu Sun and Dahuang. 2001. Vibration suppression of laminated beams with a piezoelectric damping layer. Composite Structures,
Vol. 53, pp 437- 447
[4] Benjeddou, and A. Trindade.1999. New shear actuated smart structure beam finite element”, AIAA J, Vol. 37, No. 3.
[5] B. L. Wang and N. Noda.2001. Design of smart functionally graded thermo-piezoelectric composite structure. J of Smart Materials and
Structures, Vol. 10.
[6] S.Y. Wang, S. T. Quek and K. K. Ang.2001. Vibration control of smart piezoelectric composite plates. J of Smart Materials and
Structures, Vol. 10, pp 637-644.
[7] IEEE std, 1988, IEEE Standard on Piezoelectricity – ANSI/IEEE Std 176.
[8] E F Crawley and K.B. Lazarus. 1991.Induced Strain actuation of Isotropic and Anisotropic plate. AIAA Journal, 29, 944 – 951.
[9] Kekana and P. Tabakov. 2005. Static control of composite plates using piezoelectric sensor and actuator techniques. J of Smart
Material and Structure, Vol. 14, pp 349-353.
[10] S. Raja and P. Bhattacharya,. 2002. Influence of one and two dimensional piezoelectric actuation on active vibration control of smart
panels. J of Aerospace Science and Technology, pp 209-216.
[11] Asan Gani and M. Salami 2003. Active Vibration control of beam with piezoelectric patches: real-time implementation with xPC
target. IEEE Proceedings.

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