A Hermite-Family C1 Finite Layer Method for the Three-Dimensional Free Vibration Analysis of Exponentially Graded Piezoelectric Microplates Based on the Consistent Couple Stress Theory

Abstract

Based on the consistent couple stress theory (CCST), we develop a Hermite-family [Formula: see text] finite layer method (FLM) for the three-dimensional (3D) free vibration analysis of a simply-supported, exponentially graded (EG) piezoelectric microplate under open- and closed-circuit surface conditions. In the formulation of the FLM, the microplate is artificially divided into a number of finite microlayers, and Fourier functions and Hermite polynomials are used to interpolate the in-plane and out-of-plane variations of a number of primary variables, respectively, including elastic displacement components and the electric potential variable for each individual layer. The Hermite-family [Formula: see text] FLM for analyzing EG piezoelectric microplates is reduced to the Hermite-family [Formula: see text] FLM for analyzing EG piezoelectric macroscale plates and functionally graded (FG) elastic microplates by assigning a value of zero to the material length scale parameter and by ignoring the piezoelectric and flexoelectric effects in the formulation, respectively. The accuracy and convergence rate of the FLM are assessed by comparing their solutions with the benchmark solutions of both the EG piezoelectric macroplates and the power-law-type FG elastic microplates that are available in the relevant literature. We examine and discuss some key effects on the free vibration characteristics of an EG piezoelectric microplate, including the impact of the material length scale parameter, the material-property gradient index, the length-to-thickness ratio, the piezoelectric effect, and the flexoelectric effect.