Analysis of interlaminar stresses in general cross-ply laminates with distributed piezoelectric actuators

This paper represents an analytical solution to determine the interlaminar stresses of general cross-ply laminates with piezoelectric layers as actuators under transverse mechanical loads. The three-dimensional constitutive equations of piezoelectricity are considered and the governing equations are derived within the framework of second-order shear-deformation plate theory as a set of partial differential equations. These equations are solved for two kinds of boundary conditions and the unknown assumed functions of displacement field are found. Numerical results show that this approach can generally predict the behavior of interlaminar stresses. Also, they clearly indicate the singular behavior of interlaminar normal and shear stresses in the boundary region near the edges of the laminate.