Propagation of electroacoustic axial shear waves in a piezoelectric medium reinforced by continuous fibers

The propagation of electroacoustic axial shear waves in a fiber reinforced piezocomposites is studied in which matrix and fibers consist of piezoelectric transversely isotropic materials with symmetry axes parallel to the fiber axes. The effective medium method self-consistent variant as developed by Sabina and Willis is used to obtain explicit equations for the complex wave vector and it is solved numerically. Its real part determines the effective wave velocity and the imaginary part the attenuation factor. Integral equations expressed via dynamic Green’s function kernels are set up. The central problem of the method is the axial shear electroacoustic wave scattering on one isolated fiber in the medium having the effective piezoelectric properties. It is solved approximately by the Galerkin type method. The obtained expressions for the effective wave velocity and attenuation factor cover not only the long-wave region but the intermediate wave and it is valid for long wavelenghts up to the diameter of the inclusion. Wave velocity and attenuation coefficient coincide with ones obtained earlier in some other way. Some numerical examples are presented for real materials.

► A self-consistent effective method application. ► Required one scattered problem solved by Galerkin approximation. ► Dynamic characteristics obtained down to wavelengths as long as the diameter. ► Results capture resonance effect at low frequencies.