Thin-walled adaptive structures render a large and important group of adaptive structures. Typical material system used for them is a composite laminate that includes piezoelectric material based sensors and actuators. The piezoelectric active elements are in the form of thin patches bonded onto or embedded into the structure. Among different types of patches, the paper considers those polarized in the thickness direction. The finite element method (FEM) imposed itself as an essential technical support for the needs of structural design. This paper gives a brief description of a developed shell type finite element for active/adaptive thin-walled structures and the element is, furthermore, used as a tool to consider the aspect of mesh distortion over the surface of actuators and sensors. The aspect is of significance for simulation of behavior of adaptive structures and implementation of control algorithms.