Theory of piezoelectric materials and their applications in civil engineering

The goal of this thesis is to explore ways of harvesting energy from a building. To be more specific, the conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy using piezoelectric materials is studied. Applications of piezoelectric materials as actuators are also explored, with particular interest in the question: what is the maximum moment that an actuator, whose energy comes from piezoelectricity, can develop when attached to a beam. As a piezoelectric material cannot generate much energy, and often requires amplification, the goal is to optimize the circuit linked to the piezoelectric material to obtain as much power as possible.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Ledoux, Antoine, M. Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jerome J.Connor.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/66839

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/66839