ABSTRACT
This paper is concerned with a piezoelectric solid shell finite element formulation. A geometrically non-linear theory allows large deformations and includes stability problems. The finite element formulation is based on a variational principle including six independent fields: displacements, electric potential, strains, electric field, mechanical stresses and dielectric displacements. The element has 8 nodes; the nodal degrees of freedom are displacements and the electric potential. To obtain correct results in bending-dominated situations a linear distribution through the thickness of the independent electric field is assumed. The presented finite shell element is able to model arbitrary curved shell structures and incorporates a 3D-material law. As numerical example a piezoelectric buckling problem is presented.