A piezoelectric screw dislocation near an elliptical inhomogeneity containing a confocal rigid line

The interaction between a piezoelectric screw dislocation and an elliptical inhomogeneity in piezoelectric composite material which contains an electrically conductive confocal rigid line is studied, especially analyzing the shielding effect of a piezoelectric screw dislocation near an elliptical inhomogeneity. By applying the complex variable method, the analytical solution to the elastic field and the electric field, the field intensity factors at the tip of the rigid line are derived. The image force acting on the piezoelectric screw dislocation is calculated by using the generalized Peach-Koehler formula. Accordingly, the location and the orientation of the dislocation, the material properties upon the shielding or anti-shielding effect on the stress intensity factors, as well as the effects of the rigid line and the electroelastic properties of the piezoelectric materials on the image force are discussed.