Interlayer stress in laminate beam of piezoelectric and elastic materials

This paper studies interfacial mechanical behavior of laminate beams, consisting of two piezoelectric facial sheets and an elastic core. The study is based on coupled multi-filed finite element formulation. The emphasis is placed on mechanical and electric behavior of interfaces between piezoelectric material and elastic material, including effect of geometrical parameters, stress distribution and stress concentration near free edge of the beam subjected to coupling electric and mechanical loads. In particular, various parametric effect of laminate beam is explored and some conclusions are presented which may be useful for designing laminate beam and minimizing stress concentration at the free edges of the beam.