Analysis of thermally induced cylindrical flexure of laminated plates with piezoelectric layers

The problem of thermally induced cylindrical flexure of laminated plates with piezoelectric layers is analyzed in this paper. The exact solutions are obtained in the context of the mathematical theory of elasticity. The deformation of laminated plates is considered under exponential distributions of temperature through the thickness. Different from the theory of classical laminated plates, our solutions not only satisfy governing equations and boundary conditions, but also interface continuity conditions of thermal, mechanical and electric components. Numerical results for plates with the simply supported boundary conditions are presented. It is shown that the assumption of classical lamination theory may give errors to some extent in assessing deformation. Additionally, the 'smart' property of structures can be reached through proper design of piezoelectric laminated plates. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Limited.