Oscillations of a temperature-dependent piezoelectric rod (Q1729236)

The authors propose a thermodynamically consistent phenomenological model for electromechanical coupling in piezoelectric materials, taking into account the heat production that accompanies ferroelectric hysteresis dissipation. The concept of Preisach operator with temperature-dependent density is used to illustrate the qualitative behaviour of ferroelectric hysteresis, for example butterfly-shaped curves. A formula is proposed for the free energy of the full thermo-electromechanical system, including a Preisach potential and a term to account for the couple stress. The thermodynamical variables here are the strain, the electric field and the temperature. As application, the 1-D problem of an oscillating thermo-piezoelectric rod under thermal effects is considered. The main Theorem 3.3 concerns the existence of solution of the resulting system of equations in an appropriate function space. A final section is devoted to the inversion of parameter-dependent Preisach operators.