Efficient Laminate Theory for Predicting Transverse Shear Stresses in Piezoelectric Composite Plates

A new coupled efficient layerwise higher-order theory is presented for analysis of hybrid piezoelectric composite plates with the aim of predicting transverse shear stresses directly from the constitutive equations. The theory is developed by superposing layerwise quadratic and cubic terms on the third-order zigzag approximations of the existing zigzag theory. The electric potential is assumed to be quadratic across the layers. By satisfying the interface continuity conditions for each of the two local terms separately and enforcing the conditions on the transverse shear stresses at layer interfaces and top and bottom surfaces, the number of displacement unknowns is reduced to nine. Comparisons with the three-dimensional exact solutions reveal that the present theory is a significant improvement over the existing zigzag theory for elastic and hybrid composite plates. It yields superior results, not only for transverse shear stresses, but also for other response entities, including the layerwise higher-order variations of in-plane displacements and nonuniform distribution of deflection under electric potential load.