Piezoelectric-sensitive mode of lamb wave in one-dimensional piezoelectric phononic crystal plate

•We investigate the transmission modes in piezoelectric phononic crystal plate.•The influences of piezoelectricity and electrical boundary conditions are studied.•An important mode named as piezoelectric-sensitive mode is defined.•The physical mechanism of piezoelectric-sensitive mode is discussed.

We investigate the transmission modes in one-dimensional piezoelectric phononic crystal plate, which is consisted of piezoelectric ceramics placed periodically in epoxy. The influences of piezoelectricity and different electrical boundary conditions on the Lamb waves in the composite plate are studied in detail, and an important elastic wave mode named as piezoelectric-sensitive mode (PSM) is defined. Furthermore, the influences of the piezoelectric constants, the filling fraction and the ratio of thickness to lattice pitch on PSM are given, and the physical mechanism of PSM is also discussed. The numerical results show that PSM has a relatively larger frequency shift and significant change in the displacement distribution when piezoelectricity is considered; the electromechanical coupling coefficient of PSM is much larger than the other modes. It reveals that PSM is an important and useful mode in piezoelectric periodic structures. This investigation is helpful in controlling the band gaps and also gives a potential application in design of sensing system and different piezoelectric devices.