An investigation on the thermos-electromechanical behavior of smart shells using isogeometric analysis

In this paper, the thermos-electro mechanical behavior of piezoelectric laminate shell has been studied by isogeometric analysis. Isogeometric analysis (IGA) is based on geometry generation technique, such as nurbs and splines. In Isogeometric analysis, same basis functions employed for geometry and approximation of the unknown field, unlike finite element method. In this paper, the analysis of composite shell structure is based on first-order shear deformation theory (Mindlin-Reissner), therefore each control point has five degrees of freedom, three displacement degrees of freedom and two rotations. For modeling of the electric field, we assume the variation of electric potential is linear through the thickness of piezo electric layers. The current work is validated though solving typical examples. For the Scordelis-Lo-Roof, maximum error is 0.066% that take place at the midpoint of free edge and for clamped shell maximum error is 0.039%. In other case studies, the goal is to achieve desired shape deformation by applying voltage. First by increasing the voltage on laminate shell under uniform load, the out of plane deformation has been eliminate. In continue, for control of thermal distortion, the symmetric and antisymmetric composite shell exposed to temperature gradient. By applying the voltage with same or opposite polarity, thermal twist or thermal bending has been compensated.