Electromechanical response of a center crack in a functionally graded piezoelectric strip

In this paper the problem of a finite crack in a strip of functionally graded piezoelectric material (FGPM) is studied. It is assumed that the elastic stiffness, piezoelectric, and dielectric constants of the FGPM vary continuously along the thickness of the strip, and that the strip is under an in-plane mechanical and electric loading. The integral transform technique is used to reduce the problem to the solution of a singular integral equation. The energy density factor is presented for various values of dimensionless parameters representing the crack size, the material inhomogeneity, and the magnitude of the electric loading.