Finite-element modeling of flextensional electroacoustic transducers

The moony transducer is a type of modified flextensional transducer, which consists of a thin piezoceramic disk, two thick metal end plates, and shallow cavities between the disk and the plates. The shallow cavity is designed to redistribute the thickness direction stress field to the radial and tangential directions. Flextensional transducers are good candidates for low frequency, large displacement actuators, high sensitivity hydrophones and low frequency underwater sound sources. Finite element analysis is used to investigate the actuator and sensor function of these transducers when subjected to hydrostatic loading. Modal analysis of such a transducer is performed and the admittance spectrum and the voltage sensitivity under hydrostatic pressure are studied as a function of frequency and cavity shape and the performance is compared with the ordinary piston type, Langevin transducer.