Computational evaluation of electro-magnetic circuits’ effect on the coupled response of multifunctional magneto-electro-elastic composites plates exposed to hygrothermal fields

Abstract

This work presents a higher order finite element (FE) model to gauge the static behaviour of hygrothermo-magneto-electro-elastic (HTMEE) plates with different electro-magnetic circuits. The FE model is composed of eight-noded isoparametric elements. The displacement equations are presumed to obey the higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT) and the governing equations of motion are obtained with the support of the virtual energy principle. The correctness of the FE model is verified against previously published results. The influence of electro-magnetic boundary conditions associated with hygrothermal loads, stacking sequences, empirical constants and different loading profiles have been studied in detail. The results of this article are the first of its kind in literature. Hence, it is believed to set benchmark for future investigations on multifunctional structures.