A crack in a piezoelectric layer bonded to a dissimilar elastic layer under transient load

Summary  A piezoelectric layer bonded to the surface of an elastic structure is considered. The piezoelectric and the elastic layers are infinite along the x-axis and have finite thickness in the y-direction. The polarization direction of the piezoelectric material is along the y-axis. By means of the method of singular integral equations, the solution in a Laplace transform plane is demonstrated. Laplace inversion yields the results in the time domain. Numerical values of the crack tip fields under in-plane transient electromechanical loading are obtained. The influence of layers thickness on stress and electric displacement intensity factors is investigated. Received 16 March 2000; accepted for publication 16 August 2000