Subsonic slip waves along the interface between two piezoelectric solids in sliding contact with local separation

Abstract

The Stroh formalism of piezoelectric crystals and singular integral equation technique are applied to study the propagation of possible slip waves in presence of local separation at the interface between two frictionless contact piezoelectric solids, which are pressed together by uniaxial pressure and laid in the electric field. The problem is cast into a set of singular integral equations of which the closed solutions are obtained. Discussion on the existence of such slip waves is presented. The results show that such slip waves, which have square-root singularities at both ends of the local separation zones, can propagate in some special material combinations. And the existence of such slip waves is related with the applied mechanical and electric fields.