Strip electro-mechanical yield model for three equal straight collinear cracks in piezoelectric materials

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the development of a model to study three straight collinear cracks in piezoelectric materials under the influence of combined electrical and mechanical loading conditions. Mathematical relationships for the size of yield zones with mechanical yielding conditions and the saturation zone sizes to applied electrical field has been established. To make this plausible, two different cases are considered: first when the electrical saturation zones are bigger than the mechanical yield zones while other case in which situation is just opposite. Closed-form analytic expressions are derived for various fracture parameters with the help of well known complex variable method. Numerical results are presented to study the multiple cracks in different piezoelectric materials. Results obtained are reported graphically, analyzed and concluded.