Evaluation of higher-order theories of piezoelectric plates in bending andin stretching

Many models for the flexural and membranal behaviour of piezoelectric plate s are available in the literature. They are based on different assumptions concerning the strain, stress, electric and electric-displacement fields in side the plate. A critical comparison among such models is presented here i n a completely analytic way, in order to assess the accuracy of the results they provide and determine their range of applicability. The comparison is made by using a class of case-study problems, whose analytical solutions i n the framework of the linear theory of piezoelectricity are available, as benchmarks for the solutions supplied by the plate models. The evaluated mo dels are also here rationally derived from the three-dimensional theory of piezoelectricity, and a consistent treatment of the stress and electric-dis placement relaxation conditions is proposed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.