Analysis of smart magnetoelectric reinforced plates

Abstract

© 2015 International Committee on Composite Materials. All rights reserved. A comprehensive micromechanical model for the analysis of smart composite and reinforced piezo-magneto-thermo-elastic thin plates is developed on the basis of asymptotic homogenization. The model is used to determine the effective properties of wafer-type magnetoelectric composite plates reinforced with smart ribs or stiffeners oriented along the tangential directions of the plate. For generality, it is assumed that the ribs and the base plate are made of different orthotropic materials. It is shown in this work that in the case of the purely elastic case, the results of the derived model converge exactly to previously established relations. However, in the more general case whereby some or all of the phases exhibit piezoelectric and/or piezomagnetic behavior, the expressions for the derived effective coefficients are shown to be dependent on not only the elastic properties of the constituent materials but also on the piezoelectric and piezomagnetic parameters. Thus, the formulae presented here represent an important refinement of previously established results.