A piezoelectric screw dislocation interacting with an elliptical inclusion containing electrically conductive interfacial rigid lines

The problem of the electroelastic interaction between a piezoelectric screw dislocation and an elliptical inclusion with electrically conductive interfacial rigid lines under antiplane shear and inplane electrical loads is dealt with. The screw dislocation (antiplane singularity) is located inside either the elliptical inclusion or the infinite matrix. An efficient complex variable method for multiply connected regions is developed, in terms of which explicit series solutions for the electroelastic fields in the matrix and the inclusion regions are derived. The image force acting on the piezoelectric screw dislocation is then calculated by using the generalized Peach-Koehler formula. The influence of the aspect ratio of the ellipse, rigid line geometry and material electroelastic dissimilarity on the image force is discussed. It is shown that the effect of the interfacial rigid line on the equilibrium position of the dislocation near an elliptical inclusion is significant. A stable equilibrium position of the screw dislocation in the matrix can exist when the dislocation near the soft elliptical inclusion and the interfacial rigid line. An important founding is that there exists a same critical value of the interfacial rigid line angle to change the direction of the image force acting on the dislocation regardless of the shape of the inclusion as the area of the elliptical inclusion taking a constant.