AbstractWith the significantly increasing applications of smart structures, piezoelectric material is widely used in branches of engineering sciences. Normally, the Finite Element Method is employed in the numerical analysis of these structures [2]. In this contribution, in order to avoid the locking effects and zero energy modes, the Assumed Natural Strain (ANS) Method [4] is implemented into four‐node piezoelectric shallow shell elements, by using the two‐field variational formulation in which displacements and electric potentials serve as independent variables and the three‐field variational formulation in which the dielectric displacement is taken as an independent variable additionally [3]. Moreover, a quadratic variation of the electric potential through the thickness direction is applied in the two‐field formulation. Numerical examples of piezoelectric sensors and actuators are presented, showing the behaviour of the shell elements by using different hybrid finite element formulations. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)