An exact solution for the three-phase piezoelectric cylinder model under antiplane shear and its applications to piezoelectric composites

A three-phase piezoelectric cylinder model is proposed and an exact solutio n is obtained for the model under a farfield antiplane mechanical load and a far-field inplane electrical load. The three-phase model can serve as a f iber/interphase layer/matrix model, in terms of which a lot of interesting mechanical and electrical coupling phenomena induced by the interphase laye r are revealed. It is found that much more serious stress and electrical fi eld concentrations occur in the model with the interphase layer than those without any interphase layer. The three-phase model can also serve as a fib er/matrix/composite model, in terms of which a generalized self-consistent approach is developed for predicting the effective electroelastic moduli of piezoelectric composites. Numerical examples are given and discussed in de tail. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.