Thermal Effect on the Bending Behavior of Curved Functionally Graded Piezoelectric Actuators

This paper provides a study of the bending behavior of a circularly curved functionally graded piezoelectric cantilever actuator under an applied electric load and heat conduction. As a special case, the curved piezoelectric actuator is assumed to have graded property for the piezoelectric parameter g31 only in the thickness direction, which is expanded by Taylor series. Based on the theory of linear piezoelectricity, the analytical formulations are developed by introducing the Airy stress function. Numerical simulations are made to show the effects of material gradient and heat conduction on the bending behavior of the actuators. It is found that the electroelastic field of the curved actuator is significantly influenced by the thermal load. The results will be very helpful for the design and optimization of curved functionally graded piezoelectric actuators when these devices experience heat transfer.