• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2014

Design sensitivity analysis and topology design optimization for a piezoelectric crystal resonator are developed. The piezoelectric crystal resonator is deformed mechanically when subjected to electric charge on the electrodes, or vice versa. The Mindlin plate theory with higher-order interpolations along thickness direction is employed for analyzing the thickness-shear vibrations of the crystal resonator. Thin electrode plates are masked on the top and bottom layers of the crystal plate in order to enforce to vibrate it or detect electric signals. Although the electrode is very thin, its weight and shape could change the performance of the resonators. Thus, the design variables are the bulk material densities corresponding to the mass of masking electrode plates. An optimization problem is formulated to find the optimal topology of electrodes, maximizing the thickness-shear contribution of strain energy at the desired motion and restricting the allowable volume and area of masking plates. The necessary design gradients for the thickness-shear frequency(eigenvalue) and the corresponding mode shape(eigenvector) are computed very efficiently and accurately using the analytical design sensitivity analysis method using the eigenvector expansion concept. Through some demonstrative numerical examples, the design sensitivity analysis method is verified to be very efficient and accurate by comparing with the finite difference method. It is also observed that the optimal electrode design yields an improved mode shape and thickness-shear energy.