Transient response of a finite piezoelectric strip containing coplanar insulating cracks under electromechanical impact

This study is concerned with the transient response of a piezoelectric cera mic strip containing two coplanar cracks under antiplane mechanical and inp lane electric impacting loads. By applying the electromechanical dislocatio n concept and Laplace and Fourier transforms, the current mixed boundary va lue problem is reduced to Cauchy-type singular integral equations, in the L aplace plane, which are solved numerically. Laplace's inversion was then pe rformed to obtain the dynamic electromechanical fields in the physical plan e. The time variations of the resulting dynamic stress and electric displac ement intensity factors are formulated in terms of the applied electromecha nical impact and cracked strip configurations. The results reveal that the presence of the dynamic electric field could impede or enhance the propagat ion of the crack in piezoelectric ceramics depending upon the time elapsed and the specific configuration considered. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.