Fracture analysis on a layered multiferroic smart structure containing non-periodic interfacial cracks under magnetic/electric and mechanical loadings

The problems of periodic cracks have been widely solved in existing literature of fracture mechanics. Although the assumption of periodicity facilitates the theoretical derivation, practical multiple cracks in most cases are not periodically distributed in materials and structures. The present article performs fracture analysis on a piezoelectric/piezomagnetic/piezoelectric (PE/PM/PE) tri-layered smart structure containing nonperiodic interfacial cracks under magnetic/electric and mechanical loadings. The methods of dislocation simulation, Green's function and Cauchy singular integral equations are employed to solve the problem. Stress intensity factors (SIFs) are numerically calculated, and parametric studies are conducted to demonstrate the variation laws of SIFs versus geometrical parameters. The obtained conclusions may provide references for the optimal design of PE/PM/PE smart structures.