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The Legendre polynomial approach has been proposed to solve wave propagation in multilayered flat plates and functionally graded structures for more than ten years, but it can deal with a multilayered plate only when the material properties of two adjacent layers do not change significantly. In this paper, an improvement of the Legendre polynomial approach is proposed to solve wave propagation in what, from now on, we will call general multilayered piezoelectric cylindrical plates, to mean indifferently with or without very dissimilar materials. Detailed formulations are given to highlight the differences from the conventional Legendre polynomial approach. Through numerical comparisons among the exact solution (from the reverberation-ray matrix), the conventional polynomial approach, and the improved polynomial approach, the validity of the proposed approach is illustrated. Then, the influences of the radius-to-thickness ratio on the dispersion curves, the stress, and electric displacement distributions are discussed. It is shown that the conventional orthogonal polynomial approach cannot obtain correct continuous normal stress and normal electric displacement shapes, unlike the improved orthogonal polynomial approach, which overcomes these drawbacks. It is also found that three factors determine the distribution of mechanical energy and electric energy at higher frequencies: the radius-to-thickness ratio, the wave speed of component material, and the position of the component material. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]