Abstract: The generalized piezothermoelastic coupled governingequations are formulated in generalized thermoelasticity theories: G-Ltheory and L-S theory. For a short time duration, the finite element method isproposed to solve the partial differential equations directly in the timedomain. The developed method is applied to a two-dimensional generalizedpiezothermoelastic problem of a thick piezoelectric plate of infinite extentsubjected to thermal shock on its surface. Temperature distributions as wellas displacement, stress and electric potential distributions areobtained and representedgraphically. Comparisons are made with the results predicted by theclassical piezothermoelastic theories. It is shown that the present methodis an effective and exact numerical analysis method for the generalizedpiezothermoelastic problem.