Penny-shaped and half-plane cracks in a transversely isotropic piezoelectric solid under arbitrary loading

Summary The problem of a penny-shaped crack in a transversely isotropic piezoelectric material loaded by both normal and tangential tractions and by electric charges is analyzed. Closed-form solutions are obtained for the full electroelastic fields as well as for the stress and electric displacement intensity factors. Solutions are also obtained for the (non-trivial) limiting case of a half-plane crack. The results are illustrated on the example of piezoceramics PZT-6B. Received 12 July 1999; accepted for publication 20 July 1999