Analytical and Numerical Study of Pre-Stress Effect in Piezoelectric Sandwich Type Ultrasonic Transducer

In this paper, the effect of pre-stress condition on the resonance frequency of the transducer is studied by using numerical and analytical methods. To compare the obtained results, two sandwich-type transducers with nominal frequency of 25 kHz and 30 kHz are considered. Experimental determination of pre-stress value in transducer is described and measured. Then resonance frequency of transducers in the presence of pre-stress is determined by impedance analyser. Numerical analysis is conducted by modelling three-dimensional transducer in details at ABAQUS software. The resonance frequency is determined with and without pre-stress. The FE results show that by applying pre-stress on the transducers, the resonance frequency of transducers decreased. Furthermore, the FE results are very close to experimental results. Furthermore, a systematic analytical solution is presented based on one-dimensional wave propagation. The resultant displacement for each sub-section of the transducer is calculated and then all of them are assembled and solved by considering the continuity conditions of displacement and force components. It is found that pre-load condition that is produced by central bolt reduces resonance frequency of the transducer. The obtained analytical results provide fast and reliable model for predicting resonance frequency of transducer.