FREE-VIBRATION OF PIEZOELECTRIC LAMINATES IN CYLINDRICAL BENDING

Exact solutions are presented for the free vibration behavior of piezoelectric laminates in cylindrical bending. The laminates can be composed of an arbitrary number of elastic and piezoelectric layers. The natural frequencies and through-thickness modal distributions are computed for the case where the upper and lower surfaces of the laminate are traction free. The electrostatic potential or the normal electric displacement is specified to be zero at these surfaces. All appropriate interface conditions are also satisfied. The resulting determinant equation is iteratively solved for the resonant frequencies, with the mode distributions of the elastic and electric field variables also computed. Representative examples are studied for thick and thin laminate geometries.