When designing Piezocomposite devices, designers are often limited to specific kerf sizes, therefore the volume fraction (percentage of pzt in the entire composite) is often varied to optimize the design.
In this design study, we simulate a 1-3 Piezocomposite array to analyse the effect of volume fraction on electrical performance.
Model Description
Model of a 1-3 Piezocomposite array with 400 pillars using CTS 3203HD Piezoceramic and a hardset epoxy filler.
Download and Open the Model
Download: 1-3 Piezocomposite 3D Model
OnScale Input Files have the file extension *.flxinp. To open the downloaded file:
- Open OnScale
- Select Analyst Mode
- Select the Menu button in the top left of the application
- Select Open
Preview Model
Preview model is used to view the geometry dimensions and material assignment of a model to ensure the script is correct. To preview a model, select the Preview Model icon in the Home tab of the application ribbon.
Note: Preview model will display data from any grph commands that come before the prcs command. If you have more than one grph command, you can cycle through the graphics by continuously selecting Preview Model. To close the preview, select Stop Preview.
Run Model on Cloud
To run the model on the cloud, follow these steps:
- In the Home tab, select Run on Cloud
- Click Select and open the file you wish to run (composite_3D.flxinp)
- Set vol_fr Start Value to 0.2, End Value to 0.8 and number of Simulations to 50
- Select Estimate
- Select Run
Download Results
- From the Home tab, select the Storage icon
- Select the Refresh icon to refresh storage
- Select the Job Name from the dropdown menu
- Select all Simulation folders using SHFT + Select
- Right click on a Simulation folder and select Download Selection By Type > .flxhst
Choose a directory to download the results to. These results will be stored in the folder: composite_3D-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS\1 where YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS is the current date and time and X is the simulation number.
Switch to Post Processor
Post Processor is a suite of tools used to visualise and analyse output data generated from OnScale simulations. Switch to Post Post Processor.
What kind of analysis can I do in Post Processor? Find out here.
Analyse Results
To plot the impedance of the composite, follow these steps:
- In File Explorer, navigate to the download directory, expand folder Simulation 1 and double click the file 'composite_3D.flxhst' to load it
- Repeat Step 1 for files in Simulation 18, 34 and 50
- In Results Manager, select the first voltage time history 'pize top:Voltage' by left clicking it
- From the Home tab of the ribbon, select the Impedance icon to calculate impedance
- In the Frequency History section of the Results Manager, double click the first 'Impd:top.amp' to plot impedance amplitude
- Repeat Steps 3-5 for the second, third and fourth curves
- In Plot Controls, tick Log yAxis
- In Plot Controls, set Minimum xAxis to 6.5e5 and Maximum xAxis to 2.5e6
- In Plot Controls, set Minimum yAxis to 2 and Maximum yAxis to 8000
- Click on plot legend and name the curves according to their volume fraction
- 20%
- 40%
- 60 %
- 80%