A coupled consistent third-order theory for hybrid piezoelectric plates

A new coupled consistent third-order theory is presented for static thermoelectromechanical response of hybrid piezoelectric laminated plates, which, unlike the existing third-order theory, satisfies exactly the shear traction-free conditions at top and bottom of the hybrid plates for any electrical boundary conditions. The transverse as well as inplane electric fields are considered. The potential and thermal fields are discretised sub-layer-wise as piecewise linear which can adequately approximate the actual distributions of these fields across the thickness. The inplane displacements are approximated as a third-order variation and the transverse displacement is approximated as uniform across the thickness. The field equations and boundary conditions are derived from a variational principle. Navier-type solutions are obtained for simply-supported plates. The new and the existing third-order theories are assessed by comparing the results with the three-dimensional exact piezothermoelasticity solutions.