Assessment of third order smeared and zigzag theories for buckling and vibration of flat angle-ply hybrid piezoelectric panels

A recently developed improved third order theory (ITOT) for angle-ply hybrid piezoelectric plates in cylindrical bending is extended to include geometric non-linearity in the Von Karman sense. The transverse deflection is approximated non-uniformly to explicitly account for the transverse strain due to temperature and electric potential. The coupled non-linear equations of motion and the boundary conditions are derived using the extended Hamilton’s principle. The non-linear theory is used to obtain the buckling and free vibration response of symmetrically laminated hybrid angle-ply panels under inplane electro-thermomechanical loading. This theory and the third order zigzag theory with additional layerwise terms for inplane displacements are assessed in direct comparison with the exact 2D piezothermoelasticity solutions for forced harmonic response, buckling and free vibration response under initial inplane electro-thermomechanical loading. The comparison establishes the accuracy of the results of the zigzag theory and its superiority over the ITOT for the dynamic and buckling response of angle-ply hybrid panels.