T. Buchukuri, O. Chkadua, D. Natroshvili, A.-M. Sändig
abstract:
We investigate linear three-dimensional boundary transmission problems related 
to the interaction of metallic and piezoelectric ceramic media with regard to 
thermal stresses. Such type of physical problems arise, e.g., in the theory of 
piezoelectric stack actuators. We use the Voigt's model and give a mathematical 
formulation of the physical problem when the metallic electrodes and the 
piezoelectric ceramic matrix are bonded along some proper parts of their 
boundaries. The mathematical model involves different dimensional physical 
fields in different sub-domains, occupied by the metallic and piezoceramic parts 
of the composite. These fields are coupled by systems of partial differential 
equations and appropriate mixed boundary transmission conditions. We investigate 
the corresponding mixed boundary transmission problems by variational and 
potential methods. Existence and uniqueness results in appropriate Sobolev 
spaces are proved. We present also some numerical results showing the influence 
of thermal stresses.
Mathematics Subject Classification: 74F05, 74F15, 74B05
Key words and phrases: Thermoelasticity, thermopiezoelasticity, boundary transmission problems, variational methods, potential method