Finite element analysis of a unimorph cantilever for piezoelectric energy harvesting

A finite model based on the classical laminated plate theory is presented for the unimorph piezoelectric cantilever. The formulations of static and dynamic analysis are derived from the variation principle. Three material parameter matrices of the PZT are taken into account in the present model. The static analysis of the piezoelectric cantilever is performed to investigate the influence of the geometric parameters on the output voltage, and model analysis is selected to determine the natural frequency and eigenmodes. To validate the simulation results, an experiment on a unimorph cantilver with brass substrate was carried out. The experiment results were found to be in good agreement with the simulation results. The results indicate that the finite model can be beneficial to designing ideal piezoelectric energy harvesting devices.