Love waves in a two-layered piezoelectric/elastic composite plate with an imperfect interface

Abstract

Based on the shear spring model, the propagation of Love wave in two-layered piezoelectric/elastic composite plates under the influence of interfacial defect is investigated. The piezoelectric layer is electrically shorted at both top and bottom surfaces. The wave form solutions of the piezoelectric and elastic layers are obtained, and the dispersion equation is derived by subjecting the boundary conditions and the continuity conditions to the obtained wave form solutions. Numerical results are performed for PZT4/aluminum composite plate. The phase velocities and the mode shapes of mechanical displacement and electric potential are illustrated graphically. The results show that both the interfacial defect and the thickness ratio between the piezoelectric and elastic layers have significant effect on the propagation characteristics of Love wave. One important feature is observed that the interfacial defect always decreases the phase velocities.