Surface acoustic waves (SAW) propagating over a piezoelectric half-space ro
tating at a constant angular rate about a fixed axis are analyzed using the
linear theory of piezoelectricity, including Coriolis and centrifugal forc
es. Rotation sensitivity, the rotation induced change of wave speed, is stu
died. The dependence of the rotation sensitivity on the orientation of the
rotation axis and the orientation of the material is examined. Numerical re
sults for polarized ceramics PZT-SH are presented to show the detailed char
acteristics of the rotation sensitivity. The implications of the numerical
results are discussed for different applications.