Computational analysis of coupled physical fields in piezothermoelastic media Original Research Article

The dynamics of piezoelectric solids is studied computationally with a mathematical model coupling the equation of motion, the Maxwell equation for electric field and the energy balance equation. The main results are reported for (hollow) cylindrical piezoelectric elements with radial preliminary polarization where a strong effect of thermo-electromechanical coupling is amplified by the mechanical boundary conditions for stresses. Such elements (and the associated models allowing computations of their dynamics under different thermo-electromechanical loading conditions) become increasingly important not only in the traditional applications of piezoelectrics such as piezotransducers, but also in the context of smart materials and structures applications. Based on the variational approach and theory of generalized solutions efficient numerical schemes for a fully coupled model have been developed. Computational results are presented for a hollow cylindrical element made of PZT-5A piezoceramics.