This paper aims to introduce an alternative approach for balancing mode-localized beam-type resonant mass micro-sensors via equipping the system with piezoelectric layers. To this end, employing the Hamilton principle together with the Ritz method, the non-linear reduced equations of motion governing electrostatically coupled micro-beams with piezoelectric layers are obtained. Doing so, the reduced equilibrium equations are then obtained by neglecting the terms with the time derivatives. In addition, the free vibration equations associated with the present system are also extracted through linearizing the motion equations around the previously determined static configuration of the system. Solving the free vibration equations, the eigenvalue loci of the system are then plotted. Afterward, the influence of piezoelectric excitation on the veering phenomenon is studied. The results, whose accuracy is successfully validated by those available in the literature, reveal that piezoelectric excitation can drastically affect the veering phenomenon. Given this important observation, the possibility of employing piezoelectric excitation in designing tunable resonant mass micro-sensors that operate based on the mode-localization phenomenon suggests itself.

Keywords