Piezoelectric hollow cylinder with thermal gradient

The coupling nature of piezoelectric materials has acquired wide applications in electric-mechanical and electric devices. Recent advances in smart structures technology have led to a resurgence of interest in piezoelectricity, and in particular, in the solution of fundamental boundary value problems. In this paper, an analytic solution to the axisymmetric problem of a radially polarized, radially orthotropic piezoelectric hollow cylinder with thermal gradient is developed. An analytic solution to the governing equilibrium equations (a coupled system of second-order ordinary differential equations) is obtained. On application of the boundary conditions, the problem is reduced to solving a system of linear algebraic equations. The stress and potential field distributions in the cylinder are obtained numerically for two piezoceramics. It is shown that the hoop stresses in a cylinder composed of these materials can be decreased throughout the cross-section by applying an appropriate set of boundary conditions. This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor Jeong Sam Han Mahdi Saadatfar received a B. S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Kashan 2006. He is currently a M.S student at the School of Mechanical Engineering at University of Tehran, Iran. He is currently researching about modeling of nanoindentation process in nanocomposites. Mr. Saadatfar’s research interests are in the area of piezoelectric Materials, Polymer/Clay nanocomposites and Finite element modeling. He has several published paper about piezoelectric materials and Finite element modeling of nanocomposites. Amin Shariat Razavi received a B.S degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kashan University in 2006. He is currently testing and examining an specific type of intelligent plasma cutting machine for process equipment that is designed by himself. Mr. Razavi’s research interests are smart materials and design of mechanical system.