Spline finite strip method for analysis of thick piezoelectric composite plates

In the present study, the spline finite strip with higher-order shear deformation is formulated for the static analysis of piezoelectric composite plates. In the analysis, the electric potential on each continuous electrode is taken as a global degree of freedom, so that the equipotential condition on the electrode is automatically satisfied. The proposed method incorporates Reddy's third-order shear deformation theory, Touratier's "Sine" model, Afaq's exponential model and Cho's higher-order zigzag laminate theory. Thus, the analysis can be conducted based on any selected plate theory, and the solutions based on different plate theories can be compared each other. In addition, the shear correction coefficients are not required in the analysis, and an improved accuracy for thick plate is achieved. The numerical results obtained based on different plate theories are presented in comparison with the three-dimensional solutions.