Characterizing Flexoelectricity in Composite Material Using the Element-Free Galerkin Method

Bo He, Brahmanandam Javvaji and Xiaoying Zhuang
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Bo He: College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China
Brahmanandam Javvaji: Institute of Continuum Mechanics, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Appelstr. 11, 30167 Hannover, Germany
Xiaoying Zhuang: Division of Computational Mechanics, Ton Duc Thang University, 700000 Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: This study employs the Element-Free Galerkin method (EFG) to characterize flexoelectricity in a composite material. The presence of the strain gradient term in the Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) requires C 1 continuity to describe the electromechanical coupling. The use of quartic weight functions in the developed model fulfills this prerequisite. We report the generation of electric polarization in a non-piezoelectric composite material through the inclusion-induced strain gradient field. The level set technique associated with the model supervises the weak discontinuity between the inclusion and matrix. The increased area ratio between the inclusion and matrix is found to improve the conversion of mechanical energy to electrical energy. The electromechanical coupling is enhanced when using softer materials for the embedding inclusions.

Keywords: flexoelectricity; meshless method; composite; size effect; level set technique (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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