Axisymmetric waves in incompressible soft electroactive cylindrical shells subject to a biasing field

This paper studies the axisymmetric wave propagation in a soft electroactive cylindrical shell (or hollow cylinder) subject to a uniform biasing field. To this end, Dorfmann and Ogden's nonlinear framework for electroelasticity and the associated linear incremental theory are employed. The wave solution is derived in terms of Bessel functions, and the exact dispersion equation is presented. For a nonlinear material model proposed by Dorfmann and Ogden, illustrative numerical results are given. It is shown that both the pre-stretch and the electric biasing field have a remarkable influence on the dispersion of the axisymmetric waves. Thus, the biasing field can be used to modulate the wave propagation behavior in soft electroactive structures. We also investigate the effects of structural topology and the electric field exterior to the cylindrical shell and some discussions are given.