Modelling of Piezocomposites with Mechanical Interface Effects

Abstract

This investigation is devoted to the determination of the material properties of piezoelectric mixed composites with stochastically distributed inclusions or pores and with mechanical imperfect interface, which simulates the nanoscale effects. Finite element package ANSYS was used to simulate the representative volume element and to calculate the effective material properties of piezocomposite material. This approach is based on the theory of effective moduli, the representative volumes simulation and the finite element technologies. The contact boundaries between the materials of different phases were covered by the surface elastic shell elements with membrane stress option in order to take the interface effects into account. As an example, the results of the effective moduli calculation for a porous ferrohard piezoceramics were presented. The results have shown that the surface stresses on the pore boundaries could have a significant effect on the values of the effective stiffness moduli and little effect on the values of the effective piezomoduli and dielectric permittivities.