Coupled electromechanical behavior of an interface electrode in a piezoelectric layer

An interface electrode in a layered piezoelectric medium of finite thickness is investigated. Closed-form expressions for the electromechanical fields at the electrode tip are obtained in terms of the applied electric field intensity factor. Effect of layer thickness on the electrode tip fields is studied. The values of the electric field intensity factor are obtained exactly for infinite layer thickness and numerically for finite layer thickness. The stress, electric displacement, and electric field are graphically shown. It is found that the electromechanical intensity factors at the electrode tip can be reduced considerably by decreasing the thickness of the piezoelectric layer. From the solution of the single electrode problem, the solution for two identical and collinear interface electrodes in the piezoelectric medium are also obtained.