Bending mode effect on sensitivity of plate surface acoustic wave pressure sensors

The bending mode effect on sensitivity of pressure sensors operating with surface acoustic waves (SAW) propagating over the surface of a plate is analyzed using Tiersten's perturbation integral for frequency shifts in a piezoelectric resonator due to the presence of initial fields. For a plate subjected to nonpure bending, the SAW speed, whose shift in response to pressure determines the sensitivity, can be defined locally through the local variations of the effective material constants. Three common bending modes of pure bending, bending under a concentrate load, and bending under a uniformly load are analyzed and compared.