• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.10 no.11
• /
• pp.1012-1016
• /
• 2004

In the present paper, equivalent beam and equivalent bimorph beam models for IPMC(ionic Polymer-Metal Composite) actuators are described. Physical properties of an IPMC, such as Young's modulus and electro-mechanical coupling coefficient. are determined from the rule of mixture, bimorph beam equations, and measured force-displacement data of a cantilevered IPMC actuator. By using a beam equation with estimated physical properties, actuation displacements of a cantilevered IPMC actuator was calculated and a good agreement between the computed tip displacements and the measured data was observed. Finite element analysis(FEA) combined with the estimated physical properties was used to reproduce the force-displacement relationship of an IPMC actuator. Results from the FEA agreed well with the measure data. The proposed models might be used for modeling of IPMC actuators with complicated shapes and boundary conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.24-30
• /
• 2008

The laminate IPMC actuator have been developed with a commercial Nafion film and platinum electrodes. Equivalent beam and equivalent bimorph beam models for IPMC(Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite) actuators are described. By using a beam equation with estimated physical properities and actuation displacements of a cantilevered IPMC actuator are estimated. And Finite element analysis(FEA) was done by ANSYS.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.1 no.3
• /
• pp.309-324
• /
• 2005

This paper presents an efficient and accurate coupled beam model for piezoelectric bimorphs based on improved first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The model combines the equivalent single layer approach for the mechanical displacements and a layerwise modeling for the electric potential. General electric field function is proposed to reasonably approximate the through-the-thickness distribution of the applied and induced electric potentials. Layerwise defined shear correction factor (k) accounting for nonlinear shear strain distribution is introduced into both the shear stress resultant and the electric displacement integration. Analytical solutions for free vibrations and forced response under electromechanical loads are obtained for the simply supported piezoelectric bimorphs with series or parallel arrangement, and the numerical results for various length-to-thickness ratios are compared with the exact two-dimensional piezoelasticity solution. Excellent predictions with low error estimates of local and global responses as well as the modal frequencies are observed.