Dynamical Model for an Interharmonic Property of a Piezoelectric Bimorph Cantilever Beam with Self-Sensing Function

A piezoelectric bimorph cantilevered beam is analyzed dynamically by a longitudinal and transverse coupling theory. When a sinusoidal voltage is applied on the actuating layer of the bimorph, the output voltage of the sensing layer appears as interharmonic component signal. The interharmonic frequency is noninteger harmonic frequency of the applied voltage. A dynamic model is proposed to describe the interharmonic property of the piezoelectric bimorph beam. Through some simulations and experiments, the theoretical model is verified effectively to express the nonlinear characteristic. Furthermore, when the piezoelectric bimorph resonance happens, some interharmonic response at low frequency will modulate with the resonance response.