The anti-plane solution for the edge cracks originating from an arbitrary hole in a piezoelectric material

• The conformal mapping function was derived based on the hole without cracks.
• The surface of crack and hole is electrically impermeable and traction-free.
• The mechanical loading always promotes crack growth.
• The electric loading may retard crack growth.

In this paper, a general and simple way was found to solve the problem of an arbitrary hole with edge cracks in transversely isotropic piezoelectric materials based on the complex variable method and the method of numerical conformal mapping. Firstly, the approximate mapping function which maps the outside of the arbitrary hole and the cracks into the outside of a circular hole is derived after a series of conformal mapping process. Secondly, based on the assumption that the surface of the cracks and hole is electrically impermeable and traction-free, the approximate expressions for the complex potential, fields intensity factors and energy release rates are presented, respectively. Thirdly, under the in-plane electric loading together with the out-plane mechanical loading, the influences of the hole size, crack length and mechanical/electric loading on the fields intensity factors and energy release rates are analyzed. Finally, some particular holes with edge cracks are studied in numerical analysis. The result shows that, the mechanical loading always promotes crack growth, while the electric loading may retard crack growth.