Three-Dimensional Electromechanical Impedance Model. I: Formulation of Directional Sum Impedance

Piezoceramic transducers (PZTs) are extensively used in vibration and noise control, and damage detection of various engineering structures. In the last decade, its application has been extended to include their interactions with the host structure in electromechanical impedance models. The interaction between the host structure and PZT is governed by both the extensional and longitudinal vibrations of the transducer. However, the interaction models developed in the last decade consider only the one-dimension or two-dimension extensional actuations, ignoring the longitudinal actuations. This study examines the three-dimensional (3D) interaction of a transducer with the host structure, considering both the extensional and the longitudinal actuations of the transducer. It does not impose any restriction on the shape, size, and electrical properties of the PZT and thus contains additional features over the existing PZT-structure interaction models. This paper is Part I of a two-part paper, which presents a new “directional sum” numerical–analytical admittance formulation with experimental verification. Part II of this paper will elaborate on the damage analysis and characterization of PZT properties for the new 3D model.