Fracture behavior of two non-symmetrical collinear cracks emanating from an elliptical hole in a piezoelectric material

Abstract

Based on the Stroh-type formalism and the technique of conformal mapping, the problem of two nonsymmetrical collinear cracks emanating from an elliptical hole in a piezoelectric solid is investigated under remotely uniform in-plane electric loading and anti-plane mechanical loading, which allowed us to take the electric field inside the hole and cracks into account. The analytical solutions of the field intensity factors and the energy release rate are presented in closed-form, which includes the extreme cases for an impermeable crack and a permeable crack. Numerical results are then presented to reveal the effects of geometrical parameters, crack permeability and combined mechanical and electric loadings on the energy release rate.