Numerical investigation of nonlinear mechanical and constitutive effects on piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvesting

Vibration-based energy harvesting has the main objective to convert available environmental mechanical energy into electrical energy. Piezoelectric materials are usually employed to promote the mechanical-electrical conversion. This work deals with a numerical investigation that analyzes the influence of nonlinear effects in piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvesting. Duffing-type oscillator that can be either monostable or bistable represents mechanical nonlinearities. A quadratic constitutive electro-mechanical coupling model represents piezoelectric nonlinearities. The system performance is evaluated for different system characteristics being monitored by the input and the generated power. Numerical simulations are carried out exploring dynamical behavior of energy harvesting system evaluating different kinds of responses, including periodic and chaotic regimes.