Crack growth prediction of an inclined crack in a half-plane thermopiezoelectric solid

The strain energy density theory is used to determine the direction of crack propagation in the case of an inclined crack in a half-plane thermopiezoelectric sheet subjected to uniform heat flow. Based on the Stroh's formulation and the thermoelectroelastic Green's function, a system of singular integral equations for the unknown thermal analog of dislocation density defined on the crack faces is presented and used to calculate the corresponding strain energy density. The direction of crack extension is then determined by way of the minimum strain energy density criterion. The study shows that the criterion is easy-to-use for thermal fracture problems.