Impact response of a finite crack in an orthotropic piezoelectric ceramic (Q1970807)

This paper studies the impact response of an orthotropic piezoelectric ceramic containing a finite Griffith crack by extending the conventional concept of linearly elastic fracture mechanics. A plane step pulse is used to strike the crack and to initiate the stress wave diffraction. By means of Laplace and Fourier transforms, the authors reduce the solution of two-dimensional wave propagation problem to the solution of a pair of dual integral equations. The solution of the dual integral equations is then reduced to the solution of a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. The effect of electroelastic interactions on the dynamic stress intensity factor and the dynamic energy release rate is computed by solving the integral equations numerically, and the results are compared with the corresponding static results.