Two-phase potentials in the analysis of smart composites having piezoelectrical components

The piezoelectric smart composite material consisting of two discrete phases of hexagonal piezoelectric crystals is subjected to mechanical and electric loads causing out-of-plane displacement and in-plane electric field. The two-phase potential method is introduced to linear piezoelectricity and worked out for the case of the antiplane deformation of a piezoelectric composite. It is shown that only two holomorphic functions (two-phase potentials) are sufficient to fully describe the field variables of the corresponding piezoelectric problem. The power of the method is exhibited by finding the two-phase potential solution to several piezoelectric problems of micromechanics of smart composites. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.