A layerwise finite element formulation of laminated composite cylindrical shells with piezoelectric layers

We present a finite element model of laminated composite cylindrical shells with piezoelectric layers by using layerwise theory. The formulation, which is based on Reddy’s layerwise displacement theory, involves the coupling between mechanical deformations and electric displacements. The full layerwise theory is used to represent the total displacement field and electric potential, and then a finite element model has been formulated based on the developed mechanics by employing Hamilton’s principle and variational method. This layerwise finite element model can give an accurate description of displacement field at the ply level and can model complex boundary conditions. Numerical example of a simply-supported laminated piezoelectric composite shell for static response and free vibration analysis was implemented to evaluate the efficiency and accuracy of the present method. Numerical results obtained with the present method are in excellent agreement with other similar solutions.