A micro-macro approach to design active piezoelectric fiber composites

The present work deals with the modeling of 1-3 periodic active fiber composites made of piezoceramic (PZT) fibers embedded in a soft non-piezoelectric matrix. We especially focus on predicting the effective coefficients of periodic transversely isotropic piezoelectric fiber composites using representative volume element method (unit cell method). Two ways for calculating the effective coefficients, an analytical and a numerical approach, can be used. In this paper the focus is on a numerical approach based on the finite element method (FEM). The asymptotic homogenization method (AHM) is used to verify the numerical solutions. Special attention is given on definition of appropriate boundary conditions for the unit cell to ensure periodicity. With the method presented the effective coefficients were calculated for different fiber volume fractions and the results are compared and discussed.