Modeling of piezoelectric energy harvester: A comparison between Euler-Bernoulli theory and Timoshenko theory

Yang Zhu, Jean W. Zu, Minghui Yao

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Harvesting vibration energy using piezoelectric materials has gained considerable attention over the past few years. Typically, a piezoelectric energy harvester is a unimorph or bimorph cantilevered beam which undergoes base vibration. The focus of this paper is to compare the Euler-Bernoulli model and the Timoshenko model, which are both used for modeling the vibration-based energy harvester. Procedures of deriving the electro-mechanical equation of motion are provided, following exact expressions for the electrical output in two models. Parametric case studies are carried out in order to compare the frequency response of two models. Simulation results show that there is a great difference between Euler-Bernoulli model and Timoshenko model at low length-to-thickness aspect ratio. Such difference diminishes and becomes negligible as aspect ratio increases. It is shown that for the design of piezoelectric energy harvester with small aspect ratio, Timoshenko model can be more accurate than Euler-Bernoulli model in predicting the system behavior.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationASME 2011 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, SMASIS 2011
Pages115-122
Number of pages8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2011
EventASME 2011 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, SMASIS 2011 - Scottsdale, AZ, United States
Duration: 18 Sep 201121 Sep 2011

Publication series

NameASME 2011 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, SMASIS 2011
Volume2

Conference

ConferenceASME 2011 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, SMASIS 2011
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityScottsdale, AZ
Period18/09/1121/09/11

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