Electro-elastic stresses in composite active beams with functionally graded layer

Abstract

Analytical expressions have been derived for the through thickness stresses of a composite active FGM beam subjected to electrical excitation. The structure is comprised of a substrate, an electro-elastically graded layer and an active layer. Continuous gradation of the volume fraction in the FGM layer is modelled in the form of an m th power polynomial of the coordinate axis in thickness direction of the beam. A numerical scheme of discretizing the continuous FGM layer (in sub-layers) and treating the beam as a discretely graded structure has also been developed. Appropriate expressions for the solution have been derived for the case of continuous power law gradation ( m th power) of the FGM layer. The discretized FGM layer scheme has been shown to yield results that practically match those predicted analytically by the closed-form model.