Shape and Displacement Control of Beams With Various Boundary Conditions Via Photostrictive Optical Actuators

Abstract

Photostrictive material is emerging as a new actuation medium. In contrast to traditional transducers, photostrictive material can produce actuation strains as a result of irradiation from high-intensity light, having neither electric lead wires nor electric circuits. In this paper, a static analytical model is derived for a flexural beam with surface bonded photostrictive optical actuators. Analysis of the proposed model is carried out by considering the induced force and bending moment produced on the beam by the patched actuator. Analytical solutions of the transverse deflection, induced by the photostrictive actuators, are derived for different boundary conditions. Those solutions are explicity expressed in terms of the geometry and position of the actuators patched on the beam. Finite element verification of the proposed model is presented. This paper presents the analytical predictions on optimal placement of photostrictive actuators for displacement control of beam structures. The objective is to determine the optimum photostrictive actuator locations to minimize the maximum beam deflection.