Unified electrical boundary conditions for a crack interacting with a dislocation in piezoelectric media

This paper investigates the interaction problem between a dislocation and a finite crack in piezoelectric media. Analytical solutions for the generalized two-dimensional problem of a dislocation that is interacting with a finite crack in piezoelectric media are formulated via Stroh formalism. The analysis is conducted on the unified electrical crack boundary condition with the introduction of the electric crack condition parameter that can describe all the electric crack boundary conditions. The two ideal crack boundary conditions, namely, the electrically impermeable and permeable crack assumptions are obtained as two special cases for the current solutions. Based on the complex variable method and the perturbation technique, closed form solutions are obtained. The field intensity factors at the crack tip and the image forces on the dislocation due to the crack are computed and discussed. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.