The Effect of Imperfect Bonding Layer on the Electromechanical Behaviour of Surface-bonded Piezoelectric Sensors

The behaviour of a piezoelectric sensor is strongly affected by the bonding condition along the interface between the sensor and the host structure. The current paper represents an analytical study of the static effect of the mechanical and geometrical properties of the adhesive layer on the coupled electromechanical behaviour of a thin piezoceramic sensor bonded to an elastic medium. A sensor model with an imperfect adhesive bonding layer, which undergoes a shear deformation, is proposed to simulate the two dimensional electromechanical behaviour of the integrated system. Analytical solution of the problem is provided by solving the resulting integral equations in terms of the interfacial stress. Numerical simulation is conducted to study the effect of the bonding layer upon the sensing process. The interfacial debonding and its effect on the interlaminar strain and stress transfer mechanisms are discussed in detail.