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Monolithic modelling of electro‐mechanical coupling in micro‐structures
Author(s) -
Rochus V.,
Rixen D. J.,
Golinval J.C.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.421
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1097-0207
pISSN - 0029-5981
DOI - 10.1002/nme.1450
Subject(s) - finite element method , tangent stiffness matrix , coupling (piping) , microelectromechanical systems , capacitive sensing , tangent , stiffness matrix , voltage , stiffness , capacitive coupling , engineering , work (physics) , mechanical engineering , structural engineering , electronic engineering , materials science , electrical engineering , mathematics , geometry , optoelectronics
The purpose of the present work is to model and to simulate the coupling between the electric and mechanical fields. A new finite element approach is proposed to model strong electro‐mechanical coupling in micro‐structures with capacitive effect. The proposed approach is based on a monolithic formulation: the electric and the mechanical fields are solved simultaneously in the same formulation. This method provides a tangent stiffness matrix for the total coupled problem which allows to determine accurately the pull‐in voltage and the natural frequency of electro‐mechanical systems such as MEMs. To illustrate the methodology results are shown for the analysis of a micro‐bridge. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.