199 © Institution of Engineers Australia, 2008 * Reviewed paper originally presented at the First World Congress on Engineering Asset Management (1 st WCEAM), Gold Coast, Australia, 2006. † Corresponding author Dr Ian Howard can be contacted at I.Howard@curtin.edu.au. Computational FEA model of a coupled piezoelectric sensor and plate structure for energy harvesting * MF Lumentut, KK Teh and I Howard † Department of Mechanical Engineering, Curtin University of Technology SUMMARY: This paper presents a mathematical model of a piezo-plate energy-harvesting scheme. An analytical method is used to generate a inite element model of the coupled piezoelectric sensor element using Love-Kirchhoff’s plate theory. Constitutive equations for a single layer plate element are formulated. The polarisation of the piezoelectric sensor bounded on the upper plate structure is due to ambient vibration exerted on the structure. Forced vibration of the smart structure will create strain energy within the crystalline structure of the piezoelectric material. The resulting electric ield generated by the sensor element was modelled using a linear thickness interpolation function and the meshed plate elements were modelled using four-node rectangular elements with three degrees of freedom for each node. The structural eigenmodes and dynamic response of the coupled piezo-plate system were solved by using modal analysis and Newmark- integration methods respectively. The analysis is demonstrated with both dynamic displacement and electric voltage responses to an applied step force. Further modelling of the smart structure is aimed at maximising the power generation capability. F force, N KE Kinetic Energy, J PE Potential Energy, J PEE electrical energy, J K stiffness matrix, N/m M consistent-mass matrix, kg Greek Letters strain vectors σ stress vectors, N/m 2  dielectric matrix at constant strain, F/m  poison ratio  shape function  z () electric potential, Volts  nodal vectors, m  differential operator of shape function  p density of plate, kg/m 3  s density of sensor, kg/m 3  total of energy, Nm NOMENCLATURE u displacement of plate element in x direction, m v displacement of plate element in y direction, m w displacement of plate element in z direction, m C modulus of elastic, N/m 2 D electric displacement vectors, C/m 2 d piezoelectric constant, m/V e piezoelectric stress coeficient, C/m 2 E electric ield, V/m D m stiffness coeficient, N/m 2 t thickness, m l length, m w width, m Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Vol 5 No 2