MODELING AND SHAPE CONTROL OF PIEZOELECTRIC ACTUATOR EMBEDDED ELASTIC PLATES

Future technologies in microsensing, microactuation, active changes in shapes of aerofoils and turbine blades justify and necessitate a comprehensive study of piezo actuators for shape control of structures. Piezo materials have the property to develop strain on applying voltage and voltage on applying strain, hence, these materials are useful both as sensors and actuators. If a piezo actuator is bonded to a substrate plate, on applying voltages, the resulting strain in the actuator induces a deflection in the plate. This deflection is a function of geometry, material properties of actuator and substrate, layout of piezo actuators, and voltage inputs to the actuators. The objectives of this paper are: (a) to develop a mathematical model for deflection of a thin plate embedded with piezo actuators using elastic plate theory, (b) to compute plate deflection by solving the mathematical model using finite difference technique, and (c) to estimate optimal actuation voltages to match the deflection of the plate to a desired deflection.