Semi-analytical modelling of piezoelectric excitation of guided waves

Piezoelectric elements are a key component of modern non-destructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring (SHM) systems and play a significant role in many other areas involving dynamic interaction with the structure such as energy harvesting, active control, power ultrasonics or removal of surface accretions using structural waves. In this paper we present a wave-based technique for modelling waveguides equipped with piezoelectric actuators in which there is no need for common simplifications regarding their dynamic behaviour or mutual interaction with the structure. The proposed approach is based on the semi-analytical finite element (SAFE) method. We developed a new piezoelectric semi-analytical element and employed the analytical wave approach to model the distributed electric excitation and scattering of the waves at discontinuities. The model is succeßfully validated against an experiment on a beam-like waveguide with emulated anechoic terminations.