Multiple Flexoelectric Actuation and Control of Plates

Flexoelectric effect is a novel electro-mechanical coupling effect that has drawn a lot of attention in the past few decades. Compared with piezoelectric materials, flexoelectric materials have the inherent characteristics of gradient coupling effect between electric field and elastic field. Since no complex pre-polarization process is required, the flexoelectric materials do not have depolarization or aging problems during the trial period. Similar to piezoelectricity, flexoelectricity exhibits two different effects: direct and converse flexoelectric effect. The direct flexoelectric effect indicates that the strain gradient produces an electrical response, and can be used in sensor design and energy harvesting. The converse flexoelectric effect represents mechanical stress or strain caused by inhomogeneous electric field or polarization gradient, and then as a response, the induced membrane force and the corresponding control moment will occur in the structure. This study will take the mechanic electric coupling characteristics of flexoelectric effect as the core, establish the dynamic equation, deduce the modal response of plate structure under the effect of flexoelectric and obtain the relationship between modal response and electric field gradient. To validate the theoretical method, a finite element model of flexoelectric actuated plate will be established in the commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics. With no existing flexoelectric module, the finite element model of flexoelectric plate will be built based on the original dynamic model. A non-uniform electric field is firstly constructed in COMSOL with the electrostatic module. The influence of different structural parameters on the vibration control effect caused by flexoelectric excitation will be analyzed and optimized, which will provide a theoretical basis for the application of flexoelectric materials in the vibration control of novel smart structures.