The problem of the electro-elastic interaction between a piezoelectric screw dislocation and an elliptical inclusion with electrically conductive interfacial rigid

lines under antiplane shear and in-plane electrical loads was dealt with. The screw dislocation (antiplane singularity) was located inside either the elliptical inclusion or the infinite matrix. An efficient complex variable method for multiply connected regions was developed, in terms of which explicit series solutions for the electro-elastic fields in the matrix and the inclusion regions were derived. The image force acting on the piezoelectric screw dislocation was then calculated by using the generalized Peach-Koehler formula. The influence of the aspect ratio of the ellipse, rigid line geometry and material electro-elastic dissimilarity on the image force was discussed. It was shown that the effect of the interfacial rigid line on the equilibrium position of the dislocation near an elliptical inclusion was significant. A stable equilibrium position of the screw dislocation in the matrix could exist when the dislocation was near the soft elliptical inclusion and the interfacial rigid line. An important finding was that the same critical value of the interfacial rigid line angle was required to change the direction of the image force acting on the dislocation regardless of the shape of the inclusion, for a constant inclusion area. A Piezoelectric Screw Dislocation Interacting with an Elliptical Inclusion Containing Electrically Conductive Interfacial Rigid Lines. Q.H.Fang, Y.W.Liu, P.H.Wen: International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 2008, 50[4], 683-93