Modelling and analysis of the dynamic behaviour of piezoelectric materialscontaining interacting cracks

This study is concerned with the treatment of the dynamic behaviour of piez oelectric materials containing interacting cracks under antiplane mechanica l and inplane electric loading. A general electrical boundary condition is used to enable the treatment of both permeable and impermeable conditions a long the crack surfaces, The theoretical solution of the problem is formula ted using integral transform techniques and an appropriate pseudo-incident wave method. The resulting singular integral equations are solved using Che byshev polynomials to provide the dynamic stress and electric fields. Numer ical examples are provided to show the effect of the geometry of the cracks , the piezoelectric constant of the material and the frequency of the incid ent wave upon the dynamic stress intensity factors. The results show the si gnificant effect of electromechanical coupling upon local stress distributi on. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.