Piezoelectric element in contact with a metal

[lostminty]

Hi all,

I'm using ABAQUS to do a bit of material modelling.

I don't have concrete understanding of this but I'll explain what I am trying to do:

Essentially a piezoelectric and a metal in contact under strain. The piezoelectric produces an electric potential which I hope can be conducted into the metal, only it doesn't at least not in my modelling.

The hope is that the metal will conduct enough charge from the piezoelectric that I can set up an electric field some distance from the piezoelectric material which doesn't produce an electric field outside its surface.

 

[gtoguy97]

I'm using the ABAQUS/Standard solver, and I've applied a static mechanical strain to the piezoelectric material, as well as the electric potential. I've set it up so that the electric potential is the same everywhere on the surface of the piezoelectric.I'm not sure how to set up the boundary conditions for the metal in this case, or how to make sure that the electric potential is conducted through the metal and out into the surrounding media. Any help would be appreciated.Thanks!