Three-dimensional static analysis of multi-layered piezoelectric hollow spheres via the state space method (Q5939393)

By the state space method, the authors perform an exact analysis of three-dimensional linear static problem for a laminated piezoelectric hollow sphere. A set of basic state variables is introduced, which comprises the radial displacement, two displacement functions, a function of the radial stress component, two stress functions, the electric potential and a function of the radial component of electric displacement. The state variables are shown to split into two independent sets, each satisfying a matrix equation. These are further reduced to two matrix equations with constant coefficients by expanding the state variables in series in spherical harmonics. From the resulting equations one can, as a first step, obtain relations between state variables at the outer surface and those at the inner surface of each layer. A complete solution then follows. Numerical examples are given for three piezoelectric materials: PZT-4, PZT-7A and BaTiO\(_{3}\). It is shown that the obtained results in some special cases are in very good agreement with previous results, thus establishing the effectiveness of the method.