Mechanical Performance Analysis of Axially Loaded Active Fiber Composites

Abstract

Active fiber composites (AFCs) or macro fiber composites (MFCs) are often subjected to external loads and mechanical deformations. Furthermore, demands from industry for sensors and actuators with higher quality and better performance for specific applications have lead the researchers to design piezoelectric systems with optimal configurations to enhance the performance of such actuators and sensors. Therefore, it is important to investigate the mechanical performance of the individual AFCs/MFCs that exist in different geometrical configurations with alternative constituent materials. Here in this work, analytical exact solutions for effective mechanical properties of AFCs/MFCs are derived and then used to obtain the analytical exact solutions for displacements, strains and stresses induced in axially loaded AFCs/MFCs, which is the most common loading condition, i.e., tension/compression, that exist for such structures. In our study, constituent materials are considered orthotropic and two different geometries, i.e., AFCs/MFCs with circular and rectangular cross-sections, are investigated. For the given material properties, the displacement, strain, and stress results, corresponding to an axially applied external load are obtained in the domain of each constituent for both AFC/MFC geometrical configurations. To verify the analytical exact solution, 3-dimensional finite element analysis is performed and then the results obtained from both techniques are compared where excellent agreement was achieved.