Transverse Surface Waves in a Functionally Graded Piezoelectric Half-Space with a Hard Dielectric Layer

As to an ideally layered structure with a functionally graded piezoelectric substrate and a hard dielectric layer, the existence and propagation behavior of transverse surface waves is studied by analytical technique. The dispersion equations for the existence of the transverse surface waves with respect to phase velocity are obtained for electrically open and short circuit conditions, respectively. A detailed investigation of the effect of gradient coefficient on dispersion relation, electromechanical coupling factor is carried out. It is found by numerical examples that adjusting gradient coefficient makes the electromechanical coupling factor of the transverse surface waves achieve quite high values at some appropriate ratio values of the layer thickness to the wavelength.