Experimental and numerical investigations of vibration characteristics for parallel-type and series-type triple-layered piezoceramic bimorphs.

The dynamic characteristics of parallel-type and series-type piezoelectric bimorphs are analyzed in this study. The transverse (out-of-plane) and planar (in-plane) vibrations for piezoceramic bimorphs in normal and abnormal connections are investigated experimentally by 2 noncontact optical techniques and impedance analyzer. Electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) is the major experimental technique for measuring the resonant frequency and corresponding vibration mode shape. Out-of-plane and in-plane vibrations of piezoelectric bimorphs at resonance are obtained by a self-arranged ESPI optical setup. The laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) is a point-wise measurement technique for out-of-plane displacement and is used to determine the out-of-plane resonant frequencies. The impedance analyzer is used to measure the resonant frequencies for in-plane motions. It is noted from the experimental results that the out-of-plane modes are the dominant motion for the normal connection and only symmetric vibration mode shapes can be excited. The in-plane motions are large enough to be measured using the ESPI method for normal connections. The in-plane resonant modes are observed for parallel-type piezoelectric bimorph in parallel connections; however, the in-plane mode shapes are similar to the out-of-plane mode shapes for the series-type piezoelectric bimorph in series connection. Hence, the particle motions of the piezoelectric bimorph at resonance are essentially 3-D for the normal connection. It is interesting to note that both symmetric and asymmetric out-of-plane vibration mode shapes can be excited with large applied voltage but no in-plane motion is observed for the abnormal connection. In addition to experimental methods, numerical computations based on the finite element method are used to verify the experimental results. Good agreements of the resonant frequencies and mode shapes are obtained for experimental and numerical results.