Axisymmetric thermo-electro-elastic analysis of a piezoelectric half space

In this study, an analytical solution is presented for thermo-electro-elastic analysis of piezoelectric semi-infinite bodies. For this purpose, governing equations are derived for a transversely isotropic piezoelectric material under an axisymmetric thermo-electro-mechanical loading condition. A general closed-form analytical solution is presented for the complementary and particular parts of the components of the displacement vector and also for the electric potential function. Then, boundary conditions are imposed and in that case an explicit solution is obtained for piezoelectric semi-infinite bodies. Results show that when a piezoelectric half space is subjected to constant/ramp surface thermal loading the maximum absolute value of radial stress occurs at the surface of the body, whereas the maximum absolute value of stress in the normal direction of the half-space surface occurs not on the surface but somewhere near the surface of the body. Moreover, the peak values for these stress curves in the case of combined loadings are closest to the half-space surface and the farthest in the case of ramp decaying thermal loading. In contrast to the constant/ramp surface thermal loading, no clear maximum point for electric field distribution for the case of combined loadings can be seen in the normal direction to the half-space boundary.