A new model is proposed to analyze the strain/stress transfer relation between host materials and piezoceramic sensors/actuators under bending and axial stress loading. The finite thickness of the adhesive is taken into account. The physical layers of the piezoceramic, adhesive and structure material are further subdivided into thinner layers as fine as necessary in order to improve the accuracy of stress analysis. In each thin layer the in-plane stresses are assumed to vary linearly across the thickness. By satisfying equilibrium equations, constitutive equations and displacement-strain relations, all components of stress, strain and displacement can be expressed as functions of the in-plane forces and the moments of the thin layers. The differential equations governing the in-plane forces and the moments are obtained. Then, this analytical model is used to predict strain transfer from the structure material to the sensor. It is found, both experimentally and theoretically, that the axial strain of the host material is considerably larger than the strain of the sensor, which is directly related to the output voltage. By introducing the so-called strain transfer factor, a relationship between the output voltage of the sensor and the strain of the measured material is derived. The model is used to predict interlayer stress distributions and strain transfer, which are induced by actuator strain. The result was compared with existing experiments and FEM. There is stress concentration between the actuator and adhesive around the edge of the smart structures, which may cause debonding under high stress loading.