Transverse Actuation of Laminated Plates via Active Layers with Piezoceramic Fibers

In the paper the problem of orthotropic actuation of transverse structural vibrations using the Interdigitated Electrode Piezoelectric Fiber Composites (IDEPFCs) is analysed. The system considered is a thin symmetrically laminated rectangular plate with the embedded active IDEPFC layers or patches glued to the plate surfaces. The uniform fields approach is applied to derive the electromechanical constitutive relations and to model the piezoelectric device effective properties. The governing equation of the plate motion induced by the actuators supplied with an external voltage is formulated and solved for the steady-state case and simply supported boundary conditions. The influence of the piezoceramic material fraction and the active composite architecture including an orientation of the principal material axes on the dynamic response of the system is numerically examined and discussed.