Energies, Vol. 12, Pages 271: Characterizing Flexoelectricity in Composite Material Using the Element-Free Galerkin Method (Energies)

This study employs the Element-Free Galerkin method (EFG) to characterize flexoelectricity in a composite material. The presence of the strain gradient term in the Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) requires C 1 continuity to describe the electromechanical coupling. The use of quartic weight functions in the developed model fulfills this prerequisite. We report the generation of electric polarization in a non-piezoelectric composite material through the inclusion-induced strain gradient field. The level set technique associated with the model supervises the weak discontinuity between the inclusion and matrix. The increased area ratio between the inclusion and matrix is found to improve the conversion of mechanical energy to electrical energy. The electromechanical coupling is enhanced when using softer materials for the embedding inclusions.