Modeling and Testing of the Static Deflections of Circular Piezoelectric Unimorph Actuators

In this article, based on the classical laminated plate theory, a new static deflection model for CPUAs subjected to voltage is established and the bonding layer is taken into account as an individual layer. According to the established analytical model, the influences of the structural parameters and material properties of the CPUA on the transverse deflection are numerically simulated and the static and dynamic characteristics of the CPUA are experimentally tested. The research results show that the predicted static deflections of the CPUA by the established deflection model in this article agree well with the measured results, the established static deflection model considering the bonding layer is more accurate than the existing model neglecting the bonding layer, and the maximum relative error is reduced by 8.45%. The static deflections of the CPUA are apparently affected by the structural parameters and the material properties, which indicate that the performance of the CPUA can be optimized by the structural parameters and material properties. Because the hysteresis of the piezoelectric material is not considered when establishing the static deflection model, the apparent error exists when utilizing the static deflection model to predict the dynamic characteristics of the CPUA.