SHAPE CONTROL OF COMPOSITE PLATES BY BONDED ACTUATORS WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE CONFIGURATION

The electrical fields and configuration parameters such as location, s ize and thickness of piezoelectric actuators are very important for sh ape control of structures. By using a performance index, the configura tion parameters of actuators and adhesive can be chosen by some rules for improving performance. In this study a procedure combining a finit e element model and the gradient projection algorithm is proposed for optimum design of shape control. This finite element model contains th e actuator element, the adhesive interface element, and an eight-node isoparametric plate element which is employed for the calculation of p late shape. The gradient projection algorithm is used to choose the op timal values of design variables. Some numerical examples are illustra ted and results reveal that the present method is effective and can be applied to the problem of shape control.