ABSTRACT
The ability to change and control the shape of the structure has been a challenging
problem. In the current work the shape control of isotropic as well as an orthotropic
fiber-reinforced composite beam with embedded piezoelectric actuators is
investigated. A finite element formulation is developed for modeling laminated
composite beams with a distributed piezoelectric actuators subjected to both
mechanical and electrical loads. A simple higher order shear deformation theory with
virtual displacement method is used to formulate the equations of motion. The model
is valid for both segmented and continuous piezoelectric elements which can be
either surface bonded or embedded in the laminated beams. A two-node with four
mechanical degrees of freedom is used in the finite element formulation. The
electric potential is treated as a generalized electric coordinates like the generalized
displacement coordinates at the mid-plane of the actuator. A MATLAB code is
developed to compute the static deformations and the natural frequency of the
structure system. The obtained results from the proposed model are compared to
the available analytical and the finite element results of other researchers.