Three-dimensional piezoelectric boundary element analysis of transversely isotropic half-space

Abstract

In this paper, we present a boundary element method (BEM) solution technique for studying the three-dimensional transversely-isotropic piezoelectric half-space problems. The use of mixed alternative point force solutions for half and full-space problems presented are necessary to overcome the computation difficulties especially in the calculation of the derivatives with respect to z. Infinite boundary elements are introduced to model the surface of the half-space only when stresses at the internal points are required to be evaluated. The integration over the infinite boundary elements is bounded and some limitations of the infinite element construction are relaxed. Closed-form solutions for uniformly distributed mechanical and electrical loads acting on a circular area on the surface of half-space are derived. This theoretical work serves as a good verification tool for numerical computation. In this paper, the numerical and theoretical results show good agreement. Numerical analysis via the finite element method (FEM) is also carried out using the commercial solver ANSYS. These FEM results are used to verify against the accuracy of the BEM solution. Finally, numerical results for the case of Hertzian pressure applied to an imperfect half-space are presented. The effects of the coupled mechanical–electrical influences as well as the presence of voids are examined.