Analysis of a three-dimensional FEM model of a thin piezoelectric actuator embedded in an infinite host structure

In this paper, we adopted a two-dimensional analytical electro-elastic model to predict the stress distributions of the piezoelectric actuator in 3D case. The actuator was embedded in an elastic host structure under electrical loadings. The problem is reduced to the solution of singular integral equations of the first kind. The interfacial stresses and the axial normal stress in both plane stress state and plane strain state were obtained to study the actuation effects being transferred from the actuator to the host. The stress distributions of the PZT actuator in different length and different thickness were analyzed to guarantee the generality. The validity of the present model has been demonstrated by application of specific examples and comparisons with the corresponding results obtained from the Finite Element Method.