Based on the theory of piezoelasticity, an analytical solution for a typical multilayer piezoelectric composite cantilever is obtained by the Airy function method. The piezoelectric cantilever may consist of any number of layers. Moreover, the materia...
Based on the theory of piezoelasticity, an analytical solution for a typical multilayer piezoelectric composite cantilever is obtained by the Airy function method. The piezoelectric cantilever may consist of any number of layers. Moreover, the material and thickness for different layers may be different. The solution obtained in the present paper is concise and can be easily applied for the bending analysis of multilayer piezoelectric actuators considering the effect of bonding layers and electrodes. At last, a comprehensive parametric study is conducted to show the influence of electromechanical coupling (EMC), the number of piezoelectric layers, the elastic modulus of elastic layer and the thickness ratio on the bending behavior of actuators. Some interesting results for the design of multilayer piezoelectric actuators are presented.