Modeling of the electromechanical coupling between crack propagation and piezoelectric behavior in active layers of smart devices

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this article, a new computational approach is investigated to predict the crack propagation inside some smart structures equipped with surface-bonded piezoelectric layers; meanwhile, the electromechanical coupling is exploited. The current industrial need of analyzing rather irregular geometries motivates resorting to a numerical approach. Therefore, the finite element method (FEM) is used to predict both the fracture behavior and the coupled response of piezoelectric material through a suitable interoperation of the two computational environments, available in some commercial code like the ABAQUS©. The two solutions are then coupled by means of a subroutine, in this case operated through the ISIGHT© tool. After a preliminary analysis and a validation, results of some numerical simulations are shown to highlight some significant peculiarities of the coupled behavior of the piezoelectric material.