Modeling and analysis of tapered composite beams with piezoelectric energy harvester: Numerical and experimental investigations

In the present study, a numerical and experimental investigation is carried out on vibration-based energy harvesting from unimorph cantilever tapered composite beams. A uniform and various configurations of a tapered composite structure embedded with piezoelectric material are considered to identify the electrical energy generated by the piezoelectric material when dynamic energy is imparted on the structure. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) of 5-H grade piezoelectric material is considered to be embedded on a cantilever beam made of glass fiber reinforced polymer matrix composite. The numerical modeling and analysis are performed on the composite structure embedded with PZT to calculate the total amount of electrical energy that can be generated by the PZT material using commercially available ANSYS APDL software. Various parametric studies are also carried out to investigate the effects of varying the location of the PZT patch and the configuration of the PZT patches on the electrical energy developed by the PZT. Further, the power generated through unimorph composite structure with PZT material connected in series and parallel are explored.