Electroelastic analysis of an electrically dielectric Griffith crack in a piezoelectric layer

The fracture analysis of an electrically dielectric Griffith crack embedded in a piezoelectric layer is made under in-plane electro-mechanical loadings. To simulate an opening crack full of a dielectric interior, the energetically consistent crack-face boundary conditions are utilized. Applying the Fourier transform technique, the boundary-value problem is reduced to solving two coupling singular integral equations. The intensity factors of stress, electric displacement, crack opening displacement (COD) and electric potential are further determined by the Lobatto-Chebyshev collocation method. The variations of the electric displacement at the crack surfaces are investigated by using the energetically consistent and semi-permeable boundary conditions respectively. The observations show that the electric displacement inside the crack is decreasing with an increase of the ratio between the crack length and piezoelectric layer width. Numerical computations are further carried out to compare the intensity factors of stress and electric potential, and the energy release rate using the energetically consistent boundary conditions with those using the semi-permeable boundary conditions. The obtained results reveal that the stress induced by a dielectric inside a crack has great effects on the stress intensity factor and energy release rate, but little influence on the electric potential difference across the crack. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.