Optimization of a circular thin-film piezoelectric actuator lying on a clamped multilayered elastic plate.

A system consisting of a circular multilayered thin-film elastic plate and a piezoelectric actuator, which is generally used for ultrasound generation in air, is studied in this paper. Effects of the electrode dimension of a circular thin-film piezoelectric actuator lying on a clamped multilayered elastic plate are discussed theoretically, while the first-order theory of asymmetrically laminated piezoelectric plates with consideration of coupled extension and flexure of the reference plane is used. Numerical results show that the deflection of the elastic plate can be optimized by adjusting the radius of the top electrode.