Investigation of loading assumptions on the effective electroelastic constants for PFRC materials

Single- and multiple-loading assumptions were previously used to derive the closed-form formulas for the effective constants of composite materials. This paper aims at investigating the effects of various loading assumptions, i.e., single- and multiple-loading assumptions, on the effective electroelastic constants for piezoelectric fibre reinforced composite materials. The required closed-form formulas under various loading assumptions are derived using the linear piezoelectric theory and iso-field assumptions. A numerical study reveals that the predicted electroelastic constants under various loading assumptions are generally bounded by those obtained under the single- and multiple-loading assumptions. The effective constants along the fibre direction obtained under the single-loading assumption are the same as those evaluated using the rule of mixtures, and those predicted under the multiple-loading assumption are close to the finite element analysis and testing results available in the literature.