Internally pressurized radially polarized piezoelectric cylinders (Q1404433)

In this paper, a hollow circular cylinder composed of a radially polarized cylindrically anisotropic piezoelectric material is considered and subjected to internal pressure together with a electric potential difference induced by electrodes attached to the inner and outer surfaces of the cylinder. First, a brief summary of the basic constitutive equations for linear piezoelectric solids is given. These equations are written in cylindrical polar coordinates and the axisymmetric problem is formulated. These governing equilibrium equations are reduced to a coupled system of second-order ordinary differential equations for the radial displacement and electric potential field. These differential equations are solved analytically for three different sets of boundary conditions, namely: (i) the cylinder is subjected to an internal uniform pressure, zero electric potential difference across the cylindrical annulus and free mechanical boundary conditions on the outer surface (tube acts as sensor), (ii) free mechanical boundary conditions on both internal and external surfaces, and also there is a uniform potential difference prescribed across the annulus (tube acts as activator due to this state is achieved, placing electrodes in the inner and outer surface of the cylinder), and (iii) superposition of cases (i) and (ii). The stress distributions in the cylinder for two typical piezoceramics, namely PZT-4 and BaTiO3 are obtained numerically. It is shown, that an existing mechanical hoop stress distribution in a circular cylindrical tube can be neutralized by a suitably applied electric field.