Systematic electromechanical transfer matrix model of a novel sandwiched type flexural piezoelectric transducer

Sandwiched type flexural piezoelectric transducers are used in many applications due to their excellent output performances. However, the design and manufacture of traditional sandwiched type flexural piezoelectric transducers always have specific requirements on the flexural piezoelectric ceramics with complex polarizations and configurations, seriously limiting their applications. To reduce these special requirements, a novel sandwiched type flexural piezoelectric transducer in which common rectangular piezoelectric plates with a single polarization are adopted is proposed in this paper. By applying excitation signals with different temporal phases to the rectangular piezoelectric plates, the proposed transducer features the ability to generate flexural vibration, longitudinal vibration, and composite longitudinal-flexural vibration. To lower the computational efforts of the finite element analysis, a general systematic electromechanical model is carried out for the proposed transducer utilizing the transfer matrix method. The developed systematic transfer matrix model provides an available approach for simultaneously coupling the mechanical and electrical properties to adequately reveal the dynamic behavior of the proposed transducer operating in flexural vibration mode. To validate the proposed model, dynamic behaviors of the sandwiched piezoelectric transducer in flexural vibration are calculated and compared with the finite element simulation results. The results demonstrate that the proposed transfer matrix model is valid and effectively reduces the computational efforts. In addition, vibration characteristics of the transducer prototype are experimented, and results verified the feasibility of the transducer design and the effectiveness of the developed transfer matrix model. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.