Thermal Stress Intensity Factors for a Normal Crack in a Piezoelectric Material Strip

This paper investigates the electromechanical fracture behavior of a normal crack in a piezoelectric material strip subjected to a uniform heat flow far away from the crack region. The crack faces are supposed to be insulated thermally and electrically. By using the Fourier transform, the thermal and electromechanical problems are reduced to singular integral equations, respectively, which are solved numerically. Both the cases of an internal crack and an edge crack are studied. Numerical calculations are carried out, and detailed results are presented to illustrate the influence of the crack location and length on the temperature distribution and the stress intensity factors.