Electro-dynamic analysis of smart nanoclay-reinforced plates with integrated piezoelectric layers

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• Static and dynamic behaviors of smart sandwich plates are investigated. • Sandwich plates consist a nanoclay/polymer core and two piezoelectric layers. • A mesh-free method based on MLS shape function and FSDT is developed and implemented. • Two morphologies of intercalated stacks and exfoliated nanoclays are considered. Integrating engineering structures with piezoelectric layers as actuator and/or sensor offers smart sandwich structures with controllable static and dynamic deflections. In this paper, a smart sandwich plate consisting of a light nanoclay-reinforced composite core and two piezoelectric face sheets is considered. The static and dynamic behaviors of the proposed smart plate are obtained using their governing coupled electro-mechanical system of equations. In order to facilitate the governing equations, a mesh-free method based on moving least square (MLS) shape function and first order shear deformation (FSDT) is developed and implemented. Two morphologies of intercalated stack and exfoliated nanoclay dispersions are considered in the distribution of the nanoclay into the polymeric matrix. The effects of morphology and volume fraction of the nanoclay, time-dependent loading, and essential boundary condition on the static and dynamic behavior of the smart piezoelectric-integrated nanocomposite plates are examined. In the dynamic analysis, resonance and amplitude modulation phenomena are studied. It is observed that the use of nanoclay, especially with exfoliated morphology, improves the static and the free vibration responses of the smart sandwich plates. Moreover, the frequency of the applied mechanical load has a significant effect on the electro-dynamic response of the proposed smart sandwich plates.