Electric Charge Loading of a Piezoelectric Solid Cylinder

Abstract

Piezoelectric elements are commonly used as sensors and actuators in adaptive structures. Among the many types of piezoelectric elements, solid cylindrical elements are used in a broad range of practical applications. This paper presents a theoretical study of a piezoelectric solid cylinder under electric charge loading applied to the ends. The material is assumed to be transversely isotropic and the general solution of the governing equations is obtained in terms of a Fourier-Bessel series containing Bessel and modified Bessel functions of the first kind. A boundary-value problem corresponding to uniform electric charge loading applied to the ends of a cylinder is solved by expanding the applied load in terms of a Fourier-Bessel series. Selected numerical results are presented to portray the basic features of the electroelastic field of a cylinder for different length-radius ratios of the cylinder and piezoelectric materials.