A GENERAL-SOLUTION TECHNIQUE FOR PIEZOTHERMOELASTICITY OF HEXAGONAL SOLIDS OF CLASS 6MM IN CARTESIAN COORDINATES

Piezoelastic materials have attracted considerable recent attention be cause of their potential use in ''intelligent'' structural systems. In this paper, we propose a general solution technique for three-dimensi onal problems of piezothermoelasticity for hexagonal solids of class 6 mm in cartesian coordinates. Potential functions are introduced to rep resent the coupled elastic and electric fields. Simple uncoupled gover ning equations for the potential functions are derived from the stress equations of equilibrium and the equation of electrostatics. As an ap plication of the technique, a piezothermoelastic problem of a thin pla te is analyzed. Numerical calculations for the stresses and the electr ic potential are carried out for a cadmium selenide body exhibiting cl ass 6mm symmetry. Stress distributions are compared with those obtaine d.for the similar thermoelastic problem without the piezo-effect.