Simulation of wave propagation in plate structures by using new spectral element with piezoelectric coupling

This paper presents an efficient approach to simulate Lamb wave propagations in thin plate structures by using new time domain spectral plate elements. A novel approach is proposed to incorporate the coupling of piezoelectric transducers within the two-dimensional plate element. The diagonal mass matrix is obtained by using a simple method with less computational effort. Detailed formulations are given. The benchmark problem of a thin aluminum plate with two surface-mounted piezoelectric transducers was investigated in detail. Comparisons are made with results obtained by using ABAQUS to verify the developed spectral plate element. It is shown that the proposed element can efficiently simulate the propagation of Lamb wave generated by a piezoelectric actuator and picked up by a piezoelectric sensor.