Flexoelectric Actuation and Control of Conical Shells

Abstract

Flexoelectric is a kind of smart materials, which has a special effect called flexoelectricity. The converse flexoelectric effect can be utilized to actuate and control flexible structure. This paper focus on the precision actuation and control effectiveness of conical shells. A flexoelectric patch is attached to a truncated conical shell. Applying a control voltage to the line-electrode on the external surface of the flexoelectric patch, coupled with the bottom surface electrode layer, an inhomogeneous electric field can be generated, and consequently induce internal actuation stresses. The stress-induced membrane control forces and bending control moments regulate the vibrations of conical shell, its longitudinal, circumferential and transverse control actions are evaluated in this paper. The relationships between the actuation effects and various design parameters, such as the thickness of flexoelectric patch, radius of line-electrode, etc., are also studied.