On the crack face boundary conditions in electromechanical fracture and an experimental protocol for determining energy release rates

The fracture mechanics of electromechanical materials has been investigated for well over a decade, yet there still exists controversy over the appropriate crack face boundary conditions for non-conducting cracks. In this paper an experimental protocol for measuring the energy release rate in a non-linear reversible electromechanical body is proposed and summarized. The potential results from the proposed experimental approach are capable of shedding light on the true physical nature of the conditions prevailing at the crack surface and in the space within the crack. The experimental procedure is simulated numerically for a linear piezoelectric specimen in a four point bending configuration subjected to electrical loading perpendicular to the crack. The focus of these investigations is on a comparison between the commonly used exact crack face boundary condition and the recently proposed energetically consistent boundary conditions. To perform the numerical calculation with a wide range of electrical and mechanical loadings, two efficient finite element formulations are presented for the general analysis of crack problems with non-linear crack face boundary conditions. Methods for the numerical determination of the crack tip energy release rate and the simulation of the experimental method for obtaining the total energy release rate are developed. Numerical results for the crack tip and total energy release rate are given for both the exact and energetically consistent boundary conditions. It is shown that the crack tip energy release rate calculated under energetically consistent boundary conditions is equal to the total energy release rate generated from the simulated experimental method. When the exact boundary conditions are used, there is no such agreement. © 2007 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.