Nonlinear Vibration of PZT4/PZT-5H Monomorph and Bimorph Beams with Graded Microstructures

Monomorph and bimorph actuators made of piezoelectric materials are widely used in smart materials and structural control. Recent studies show that their performances can be remarkably improved by the use of functionally graded piezoelectric materials (FGPMs) whose compositional profile and effective material properties are graded along the thickness direction. This paper investigates the linear and nonlinear vibration behaviors of monomorph and bimorph made from a mixture of PZT4 and PZT-5H with material composition following a power law distribution. Theoretical formulations are based on von Kármán kinematic relationships and Timoshenko beam theory to account for the effect of transverse shear deformation. The differential quadrature method (DQM) and the second-order backward difference scheme are employed to obtain the linear and nonlinear vibration frequencies. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the influences of volume fraction index, slenderness ratio, nonlinear deformation and different loading conditions.