Nonlinear dynamic response of piezolaminated smart beams

The present paper demonstrates the effect of large deformations on the piezoelectric materials and structures under time varying loads. The energy based electromechanical piezoelectric constitutive law derived by Tiersten is adopted. For large deformation analysis of beams, a counterpart of Von Karman’s plate equation is considered. The displacement fields in finite element method are based on the first order shear deformation theory. To analyze the nonlinear equilibrium equations an incremental iterative technique is employed. The control of the structure is demonstrated through a constant gain multiplier of the sensed voltage. Active control of a cantilever PVDF bimorph beam considering the nonlinear effects has been investigated.