Stress analysis for a lip-shaped crack in a thermoelectric plate under combined electrical and thermal loadings

Abstract

Abstract This study focuses on analyzing a slanted lip-shaped crack within a thermoelectric plate that experiences both a temperature gradient and an electric potential gradient. Based on the electrically insulated and thermally permeable crack model, we derive analytical solutions for the thermoelectric field and the associated thermal stress field in the cracked thermoelectric material by employing the complex variable method. Subsequently, we evaluate the stress intensity factors at the tips of the lip-shaped crack. Under the impact of thermoelectric loading, both mode-I and mode-II stress intensity factors occur at the tips of a slanted lip-shaped crack. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the influence of crack width, crack angle, and thermal conductivity of the filling medium on the stress intensity factors at the crack tip.