Experimental measurement and numerical analysis on resonant characteristics of cantilever plates for piezoceramic bimorphs

Three experimental techniques are used in this study to access the resonant characteristics of piezoceramic bimorphs in parallel and series connections. These experimental methods, including the amplitude-fluctuation electronic speckle pattern interferometry (AF-ESPI), laser Doppler vibrometer-dynamic signal analyzer (LDV-DSA), and impedance analysis, are based on the measurement of full-field displacement, point-wise displacement, and electric impedance, respectively. Because the clear fringe patterns will be shown only at resonant frequencies, both the resonant frequencies and the corresponding vibration mode shapes are successfully obtained at the same time by the AF-ESPI method. LDV-DSA is used to determine the resonant frequencies of the vibration mode for out-of-plane motion. The impedance analysis is used to measure the resonant and antiresonant frequencies for in-plane motion. Although the out-of-plane mode is the dominant motion of piezoceramic bimorphs, it is found in this study that the amount of displacement for the in-plane motion in parallel connection is large enough to be measured by AF-ESPI and impedance. It is interesting to note that resonant frequencies of the specimen in parallel connection for the out-of-plane motion determined by LDV-DSA are the same as that for the in-plane motion obtained by impedance. Furthermore, both in-plane and out-of-plane mode shapes for the specimen in parallel connection are obtained in the same resonant frequency from the AF-ESPI method. It is concluded in this study that the particle motions of piezoceramic bimorphs for parallel connection in resonance are essentially three-dimensional. However, it is found that only out-of-plane vibration modes can be excited for the specimen in series connection. Numerical computations based on the finite-element method are presented, and the theoretical predicted results are compared with the experimental measurements. Good agreements between the experimental measured data and numerical calculated results are found for resonant frequencies and mode shapes of the piezoceramic bimorph.