Modeling of functionally graded thermopiezoelectro-magnetic materials

Previous work has shown the importance of the mechanical behaviour of coatings and thin materals, where the elastic properties vary in depth. Such coatings and materials are investigated under the broad subject of Functionally Graded Materials (FGM's). There has been also a vast interest in the general coupled field analysis of thermopiezomagnetic materials under which smart piezoelectric and magnetostrictive materials can be studied. The smart materials are often bonded as thin films on host structures for the purpose of sensing and/or actuation. This work aims to combine these two important areas of thermopiezoelectro-magnetism and FGM's. The thermopiezoelectro-magnetic materials are modeled using the finite element method assuming variations in material properties similar to FGM's. The resulting equations of modeling are then applied to an example problem in smart material sensing/actuation.