The consistent Mindlin’s thermopiezoelectric equations and the principle of virtual work

The thermal field vector, an overlooked concept of importance, is introduced for the consistency in Mindlin’s thermopiezoelectric equations. The gradient of the temperature increment is defined as the thermal field vector; an analogous to the electric and magnetic field vectors (i.e., the gradients of the electric and magnetic potentials). The thermal field vector is used to state the universal gradient equations, and then, the principle of virtual work.