Investigation of the static stable states of a bistable composite rectangular plate with curved fibers and piezoelectric layers

In this paper, the static analysis of a bistable composite rectangular plate with curved fibers, free boundary conditions and piezoelectric layers reinforced with macro fibers is investigated. To this end, the potential energies and the work of external forces for the composite rectangular plate are derived using von Karman's nonlinear strain-displacement relations. The stable states of the rectangular plate are then determined using the Rayleigh-Ritz method through minimizing the potential energy of the system. Subsequently, the displacements of various parts of the rectangular plate are calculated using an extended higher-order model, and compared with the results by simulation in Abaqus. For the first time, a novel seventh-order shape function for the out-of-plane displacement field is proposed to enhance the accuracy of the results. Finally, the displacements and stable states of the rectangular plate are extracted for five different curved fiber configurations, and compared with the results from the finite element model. The findings demonstrate excellent agreement between the two methods. Additionally, this study uniquely examines the impact of piezoelectric layers reinforced with macro fibers on the static stable states of the system for the first time.