| Abstract: | Domain switching is the cause of significant non‐linearity in the response of piezoelectric materials to mechanical and electrical effects. In this paper, the response of piezoelectric solids is formulated by coupling thermal, electrical, and mechanical effects. The constitutive equations are non‐linear. Moreover, due to the domain switching phenomenon, the resulting governing equations become highly non‐linear. The corresponding non‐linear finite element equations are derived and solved by using an incremental technique. The developed formulation is first verified against a number of benchmark problems for which a closed‐form solution exists. Next, a cantilever beam made of PZT‐4 is studied to evaluate the effect of domain switching on the overall force–displacement response of the beam. A number of interesting observations are made with respect to the extent of non‐linearity and its progressive spread as the load on the beam increases. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
