Application of a Superelement in Static and Vibration Analysis of Piezoelectric Hollow Cylinders

In this study, static and vibration analyses of cylindrical piezoelectric structures by means of superelements are targeted. In this regard, the cylindrical superelement is modified in order to be used in analysis of hollow cylinders made of piezoelectric materials. At first, the cylindrical superelement, which was previously defined in the literature, is introduced. Next, the calculation of stiffness and mass matrices of piezoelectric structures in finite element (FE) analysis is briefly reviewed, and then, a piezoelectric cylindrical superelement is developed. In order to verify the accuracy of the defined element, two case studies are analyzed by means of the superelement, and the results are compared with the ones obtained by a commercial FE software. At the end, the piezoelectric superelement is further modified to be used in static and vibration analyses of hollow cylinders which are made of functionally graded piezoelectric materials (FGPM). Also in this case, two classical problems are analyzed with the defined element. In both piezoelectric and FGPM cases, the results shows appropriate compatibility with the ones obtained by the conventional elements.