On the electroelastic behaviour of a thin piezoelectric actuator attached to an infinite host structure

In this paper, we examine the coupled electromechanical behaviour of a thin piezoceramic actuator embedded in or bonded to an elastic medium under inplane mechanical and electrical loadings. The actuator is characterized by an electroelastic line model with the poling direction being perpendicular to its length. The theoretical formulations, governing this electromechanically coupled problem, are based upon the use of singular integral equations in terms of an interfacial shear stress. A square-root singularity of the resulting shear stress is found at the tips of the actuator. A new shear stress singularity factor (SSSF) was then obtained by solving these singular integral equations using Chebyshev polynomial expansions. Typical examples are provided to show the effect of the geometry of the actuator, the material combination and interfacial debonding upon the shear stress singularity factor. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.