Analytical solutions of antisymmetric angle-ply laminated plates with thickness?shear piezoelectric actuators

Analytical solutions are obtained for the bending deformation of antisymmetric angle-ply laminated plates with thickness–shear piezoelectric actuators. The laminated plates possess two opposite edges that are simply supported, the remaining two edges have any possible combination of boundary conditions: free, clamped, or simply supported. The displacement field of the laminated plates follows the first-order shear deformation theory. The Levy method, in conjunction with the state-space approach, is used to analytically determine the bending solutions of plates with various boundary conditions. Six layer laminates are used to numerically demonstrate the analytical solutions and to investigate the laminates' static behavior. Interesting deflection patterns are generated by the shear piezoelectric actuators for laminates of various boundary conditions. These findings suggest promising potential for exploiting the considered laminates in many engineering applications. The effects of the composite ply angle and the piezoelectric ply angle on the laminate deflection are also investigated. It is observed that increasing the piezoelectric ply angle always magnifies the deflection, while increasing the composite angle provides concave downward curves for the deflection variation with the angle.