Flexural characteristics of imperfect fiber-steered smart laminates integrated with piezoelectric layers

In this paper, the flexural behavior of fiber-steered composite laminates with anisotropically damaged regions embedded with piezoelectric actuators is presented. A Finite element (FE) model incorporating Hamilton’s principle for smart composite structures, based on the First Order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT), is formulated for predicting the coupled electromechanical response. Several fiber orientations are considered, and the performance comparison between fiber-steered laminates and constant stiffness composite (CSC) laminates subjected to simply supported and cantilevered boundary conditions is conducted. Moreover, the effect of the fiber orientation and anisotropic damage on the overall mechanical response of such smart composite structures is analyzed, and the efficiency of applying appropriate control voltages through embedded actuators to mitigate the stiffness reduction effect and deformation is investigated. The numerical results obtained from simulations show that fiber-steered laminates have better stiffness properties than CSC laminates, which is caused by their different stiffness distribution. Also, the application of the control voltages through piezoelectric layers increases the overall flexural performance of composite structures, since it helps to reduce deformation in the damaged areas.