Deformation of Composite Laminates Induced by Surface Bonded and Embedded Piezoelectric Actuators

In this work, piezoelectric (PZT) actuators were surface bonded on or embedded in a composite laminate and subjected to an electric voltage across the thickness, resulting in a bending effect on the composite laminate. An analytical expression of the deflection of a simply supported cross-ply composite laminate induced by distributed piezoelectric actuators was derived on the basis of classical plate theory and composite mechanics. The theoretical solution can be used to predict the deformation of the composite laminate. Series of parametric studies were performed to investigate the effects of location, size, and embedded depth of PZT actuators on the composite laminate deformation. The analytical predictions were verified with finite element results. A close agreement was achieved. It demonstrated that the present approach provided a simple solution to predict and control the deformed shape of a composite laminate induced by distributed PZT actuators.