Static and dynamic analysis of a four-tube piezoelectric actuator

Piezoelectric tubes with film electrodes on their outer and inner surfaces can be used to compose multitube actuators. The actuator of four piezoelectric tubes can substitute the traditional single-tube actuator with quartered electrodes which has been widely used in scanning probe microscopy and piezoelectric motors. In this article, the static deflection, static bending moment, resonant frequency, and dynamic deflection of the four-tube actuator are all studied in detail. The comparison between this actuator and the traditional single-tube actuator is also done and the results show that the four-tube actuator has better performances under certain conditions. The experiment results of a prototype actuator testified the validation of the analysis.