Thermally induced fracture of a smart functionally graded composite structure

Discussed is the fracture behavior of a cracked smart actuator on a substrate under thermal load. The actuator is made of piezoelectric material with functionally graded material (FGM) properties. Integral transform method is used to reduce the problem to the solution of a set of singular integral equations and is solved numerically. This paper is completed by including graphical plots of the thermal flow, stress and electric displacement intensity factors around the crack for different crack positions and material gradients. Directions of crack initiation are also predicted by using the energy density criterion.