Propagation characteristics of thermoelastic waves in piezoelectric (6 mm class) rotating plate

The propagation of Lamb waves in a homogeneous, transversely isotropic (6 mm class), piezothermoelastic plate rotating with uniform angular velocity about normal to its boundary has been investigated. The generalized (non-classical) theories of thermoelasticity in contrast to Sharma and Pal [Sharma, J.N., Pal, M., 2004. Lamb wave propagation in transversely isotropic piezothermoelastic plate. J. Sound Vib. 270, 587–610] have been used to investigate the problem. The surfaces of the plate are subjected to stress free, thermally insulated/isothermal and electrically shorted boundary conditions. Secular equations for wave propagation modes in the plate are derived from a coupled system of governing partial differential equations of linear piezothermoelasticity. After obtaining the complex characteristic roots with the help of Descartes' algorithm, the transcendental secular equations have been solved by functional iteration numerical technique to compute phase velocity and attenuation coefficient. Finally, in order to illustrate the analytical development, numerical solution of secular equations is carried out for PZT-5A piezo-thermoelastic material. The corresponding simulated results of various physical quantities such as phase velocity, attenuation coefficients, specific loss factor of energy dissipation, thermo-mechanical coupling factor and relative frequency shifts have been presented graphically for both rotating and non-rotating plates for comparison purpose. There is a scope for extension of the present work to other classes of piezo/pyroelectric crystals. The study will be useful in design and construction of gyroscope, rotation sensors, temperature sensors and other pyro/piezoelectric surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices.