ELECTROELASTIC FIELDS INDUCED BY TWO COLLINEAR AND ENERGETICALLY CONSISTENT CRACKS IN A PIEZOELECTRIC LAYER

Within the framework of linear piezoelectricity, the problem of two collinear electrically dielectric cracks in a piezoelectric layer is investigated under inplane electro-mechanical loadings. The energetically consistent crack-face boundary conditions are utilized to address the effects of a dielectric inside the cracks on the crack growth. The Fourier transform technique is applied to solve the boundary-value problem. Under the consideration of two-case electromechanical loadings, the electroelastic fields near the inner and outer crack tips are obtained through the Lobatto-Chebyshev collocation method. The special case of two collinear energetically consistent cracks in an infinite piezoelectric solid is analyzed and the closed-form solutions of the crack-tip electroelastic fields are further determined. Numerical results show the variations of stress intensity factors and energy release rates near the inner and outer crack tips on the applied electric fields, the geometry of cracks and the width of the piezoelectric layer in graphics. The observations reveal that the stress intensity factors are dependent not only on the adopted crack-face boundary conditions, but also on the applied mechanical loading.