Finite element analysis of the piezoelectric stacked-HYBATS transducer

Finite element modeling (FEM) of a piezoelectric multilayer-stacked hybrid actuation/transduction system (stacked-HYBATS) is investigated in this paper using ANSYS software. This transducer consists of two positive strain components operating in d 33 mode and one negative strain component operating in d 31 mode to generate large displacements. FEM results are compared with experimental and analytical results to provide insight into the actuation mechanisms, verify the device's three displacement components, and estimate its blocking force. FEM calculations found the effective piezoelectric coefficient to be exceptional, about 3.11 × 10 6 pm V −1 at resonance. Stacked-HYBATS was quantitatively compared to commercially available flextensional actuators using finite element analysis. It was found that under the same electric field the yielded displacement of a stacked-HYBATS is about 200% and 15% larger than that of a same-sized d 31 and d 33 flextensional actuator, respectively. These findings suggest that stacked-HYBATS is promising for precision positioning, vibration control, and acoustic applications.