Electroelastic analysis of an anti-plane shear crack in a piezoelectric ceramic strip. (Q1598072)

The author investigates the problem of an internal antiplane shear crack embedded in a piezoelectric strip subjected to four cases of electromechanical loadings. The surfaces of the crack are parallel to the strip boundaries and are assumed permeable to the electric field, meaning continuity of both the electric potential and the normal electric displacement across these surfaces. An explicit solution involving the electroelastic field, the field intensity factors and the energy release rate is obtained via solving a singular integral equation only when the crack is at the center of the strip. Otherwise, the solution may expressed in terms of an auxiliary function, obtained via solving a Fredholm integral equation as a power series in a small parameter representing the ratio between the crack and the strip lengths. It appears from the analysis that the energy release rate is independent of electric loading when the strip boundary is stress-free, while it depends on both electric and mechanical loadings when the boundary is clamped. Numerical results are presented graphically to show the influence of the crack length and the crack position on the energy release rate.