Buckling delamination of a sandwich plate-strip with piezoelectric face and elastic core layers

In this study, the buckling delamination problem of a sandwich plate-strip with a piezoelectric face and elastic core layers is studied. It is assumed that the plate-strip is simply supported and grounded along its two parallel ends and is subjected to uniformly-distributed compressive forces on these ends. Moreover, we suppose that the plate-strip has two interface inner cracks between the face and the core layers and it is also supposed that before the plate-strip is loaded (i.e. in the natural state), the surfaces of these cracks have insignificant initial imperfections. Due to compressive forces acting along the cracks we investigate the evolution of the initial imperfections of the cracks’ surfaces. Hence, the values of the critical buckling delamination force of the considered plate-strip are determined from the criteria, according to which, the considered initial imperfections of the cracks’ surfaces grow indefinitely by the compressive forces. Mathematical modeling of the considered problem is formulated within the scope of the exact nonlinear equations of electro-elasticity in the framework of the piecewise homogeneous body model, the solution of which is found numerically by employing the finite elements method. Numerical results showing the influences of the geometrical and material parameters as well as the coupling of the electrical and mechanical fields on the values of the critical force are presented and analyzed.