Volume 21, Issue 1, 2012

Letter: FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS FOR INTERFACIAL CRACK IN PIEZOELECTRIC COMPOSITE UNDER IMPACT LOADING

Liang Wang, Rui-Xiang Bai*, Hao-Ran Chen

State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Department of Mechanical Engineering , Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, P.R. China

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: bairx@dlut.edu.cn Fax: (+98-21) 64542370

Received 12 December 2011; accepted 30 March 2012

ABSTRACT

In this paper, a nonlinear finite element analysis of impact interfacial fracture for a piezoelectric composite is provided. The Newmark method was used to solve the dynamics equation. Virtual crack closure technique is to evaluate the energy release rate of crack tip. Contact elements were set up on crack surface and in the area in contact under impact loading to prevent the penetration between PZT and composite. The response curves of the energy release rate are obtained for piezoelectric composites. Numerical results are provided to show the effect of the piezoelectricity, the applied voltage, the stack sequence of composites and the contact of crack surface on the resulting dynamic energy release rate of piezoelectric composites.

Keywords:piezoelectric composite; interface fracture; impact ; finite element analysis;