Finite element analysis of thermopiezoelectric smart structures

In many applications of piezoelectrically controlled smart structures, the functionality of the system has to be ensured even in an extremely hot and cold environment. Hence, the thermal effect is very important and must be taken into account when designing such structures. To this end, a fully coupled formulation of the piezothermoelastic material behavior is required. Based on a weak formulation of the equilibrium conditions and the coupled constitutive equations of this three-field problem, a general finite element concept is presented to solve such problems numerically. Both the static and the dynamic response of combined thermal, electric and mechanical excitations are considered. An iterative solution strategy is proposed to solve the coupled field problem in an effective way.