An analytical solution for static analysis of a simply supported moderately thick sandwich piezoelectric plate

This paper presents a theoretic model of a smart structure, a transversely isotropic piezoelectric thick square plate constructed with three laminas, piezoelectric-elastic-piezoelectric layer, by adopting the first order shear deformation plate theory and piezoelectric theory. This model assumes that the transverse displacements through thickness are linear, and the in-plane displacements in the mid-plane of the plate are not taken to be account. By using Fourier's series expansion, an exact Navier typed analytical solution for deflection and electric potential of the simply supported smart plate is obtained. The electric boundary conditions are being grounded along four vertical edges. The external voltage and non-external voltage applied on the surfaces of piezoelectric layers are all considered. The convergence of the present approach is carefully studied. Comparison studies are also made for verifying the accuracy and the applicability of the present method. Then some new results of the electric potentials and displacements are provided. Numerical results show that the electrostatic voltage is approximately linear in the thickness direction, while parabolic in the plate in-plane directions, for both the deflection and the electric voltage. These results are very useful for distributed sensing and finite element verification.