Jtam-A4.dvi JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED MECHANICS 56, 4, pp. 993-1004, Warsaw 2018 DOI: 10.15632/jtam-pl.56.4.993 MICROSTRUCTURAL CONSIDERATIONS ON SH-WAVE PROPAGATION IN A PIEZOELECTRIC LAYERED STRUCTURE Richa Goyal, Satish Kumar School of Mathematics, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India e-mail: richagoyal705@gmail.com; satishk.sharma@thapar.edu Vikas Sharma Department of Mathematics, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India e-mail: vikassharma10a@yahoo.co.in Shear wave based acoustic devices are being used in gaseous and liquid environments be- cause of their high-sensitivity. The theoretical study of horizontally polarized shear (SH) waves in a layered structure consisting of a piezoelectric ceramic of PZT −5H orBaTiO3 material overlying a couple stress substrate is presented in this paper. The considered sub- strate is supposed to be exhibitingmicrostructural properties. The closed form expression of dispersion relations are derived analytically for electrically open and short conditions. The effects of internal microstructures of the couple stress substrate, thickness of PZT − 5H orBaTiO3 ceramic, piezoelectric and dielectric constants are illustrated graphically on the phase velocity of the piezoelectric layer under electrically open and short conditions. Keyword: SH-wave, piezoelectricity, couple stress, characteristic length 1. Introduction Thepropagation of surfacewaves in the layered systemconsistingof afinite layer havingdifferent material properties lying over a semi-infinite solid substrate has been of interest due to its great importance in geophysics, compositematerials aswell as innon-destructive evaluation. SH-waves refer to the type of surface waves which are horizontally polarized and propagate at the surface of the considered substrate. These waves exist only when a layer of finite thickness is deposited on semi-infinite substrate and the shear wave velocity in the layer is less than that of substrate. The piezoelectric material exhibits the linear coupling between mechanical and electric fields because of the ability of itsmaterial to produce an electric chargewhen subjected tomechanical stress and to producedeformationwhen subjected to an electric field.A thin filmof piezoelectric material bonded over a solid substrate is used to improve the performance of surface acoustic wave (SAW)devices like sensors, transducer, resonators, filters, amplifiers, oscillators, delay lines etc. which are extremely or widely used in navigation, communication and inmany other fields (Jakoby and Vellekoop, 1997). Many researchers have investigated the piezoelectric layered structure to study propagation characteristics of SH-waves. Liu et al. (2001) investigated the effect of initial stress on the propagation behavior of Love waves in a layered piezoelectric structure.Wang (2002) examined shear horizontal (SH) wave propagation in a semi-infinite solid medium surface bonded by a layer of a piezoelectric material abutting the vacuum. Liu and He (2010) also illustrated the properties of Love waves for a layered structure with an SiO2 layer sputtered on an ST-90 ◦ X quartz substrate and found the existence of a threshold of normalized layer thickness. Wang et al. (2012) examined the dispersion behavior of SH waves propagating in a layered structure consisting of a piezoelectric layer and an elastic cylinder with an imperfect bonding.Wang and 994 R. Goyal et al. Zhao (2013) studied propagation of the Lovewave in two-layered piezoelectric/elastic composite plates with an imperfect interface based on the shear spring model. Wei et al. (2009), Ezzin et al. (2017) examined the propagation of an SH-guided wave in the piezoelectric/piezomagnetic layeredplates. Singhet al. (2015) investigated thepropagationof aLove-typewave inan irregular piezoelectric layer lying over a piezoelectric half-space.Gupta andVashishth (2016) studiedBulk wave propagation in amonoclinic porous piezoelectric material. Though, Love or SH-wave propagation has been examined in detail for a piezoelectric layer overlying a solid substrate but the role of microstructure of the substrate has not been inve- stigated to the full extent. The study of wave propagation in couple stress elastic space is of great interest due to its many applications, e.g. in polymers, cellular solids, compositematerials and bones etc. Voigt (1887) proposed the idea of couple stress on the micro sized materials. The relevant mathematical model was presented by Cosserat and Cosserat (1909). Later, many researchers like Mindlin and Tiersten (1962), Koiter (1964), Eringen (1968) proposed different theories to explore this field further. The theories presented by these researchers carry certain drawbacks like indeterminacy of the spherical part of the couple-stress tensor and involvement of separate material length scale parameters. Hadjesfandiari and Dargush (2011) gave consi- stent couple stress theory which consisted of three material parameters λ, µ and characteristic length (l) which described the effects of innermicrostructure of thematerial. This characteristic length is negligible as compared to the dimensions of the body and is of the order of the average cell size or internal microstructure of the material. The propagation of SH-waves are examined by various researchers under different conditions. Vardoulakis and Georgiadis (1997) examined the existence of SH surface waves in a homogeneous gradient-elastic half space with surface energy. Recently, co-authors Sharma and Kumar (2017) have investigated the propagation of SHwaves in a viscoelastic layer bonded imperfectly with a couple stress substrate. Thus, to enhance the domain of shear wave propagation, we intend to study the SH-wave propagation in a piezoelectric ceramic lying over a couple stress elastic half-space. The substrate is considered to have properties of a microstructure like granular macromorphic rock (Dionysos Marble). Two sets of a piezoelectric layer, i.e. PZT−5H andBaTiO3 materials are considered over a solid substrate. Closed form expressions of the dispersion equation for both the cases of electrically open and electrically short conditions for the propagation of SH-wave are obtained. Numerical computations are preformed for studying the effect of underlying microstructure of substrate, thickness of the layer, piezoelectric and dielectric constants on the phase velocity profiles of the shear wave. 2. Formulation of the problem Here, we consider a piezoelectric layer of thickness H (where−H ¬ x¬ 0) lying over a couple stress elastic half-space. The Cartesian coordinate system is considered in such a way that the SH-wave is propagating along the y-axis, and x-axis is pointing positive vertically downward as shown in Fig. 1. Conventionally, the poling direction is assumed along the z-axis. If u (p) i = (u1,v1,w1) and u (c) i = (u2,v2,w2) are the mechanical displacement components due to propagation of the SH-wave in the upper piezoelectric layer and the lower couple stress elastic half-space respectively. As the SH-wave is propagating along the direction of the y-axis, this causes displacement in the z-direction only.We shall suppose that ui =0 vi =0 wi =wi(x,y,t) (i=1,2) (2.1) Let us suppose that the electric potential function of the upper piezoelectric layer is φ=φ(x,y,t) (2.2) Microstructural considerations on SH-wave propagation... 995 Fig. 1. Geometry of the problem 2.1. Dynamics of the piezoelectric material layer The equation of motion for a piezoelectric layer, the electric displacement equilibrium equ- ation and the constitutive relations may be written as σ (p) ij,j = ρ1 ∂2u (p) i ∂t2 Di,i =0 (2.3) and σ (p) ij = cijklSkl−ekijEk Dj = ejklSkl+ ǫjkEk (2.4) where i,j,k, l=1,2,3; σ (p) ij and Skl are the stress and strain tensors, respectively, cijkl, ekij and ǫjk are the elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric coefficients respectively, u (p) i = (u1,v1,w1) and Dj denotes the mechanical and electric displacement respectively, Ek is the electrical potential field, ρ1 is the mass density of the piezoelectric layer, the superscript index p is used for the upper piezoelectric layer. For the transversely isotropic piezoelectric layer, equation (2.4) can be expressed in the component formwith the z-axis being the symmetric axis of the material as (Liu et al., 2001) σ(p)x = c11Sx+ c12Sy + c13Sz−e31Ez σ (p) y = c12Sx+ c11Sy +c13Sz−e31Ez σ(p)z = c13Sx+ c13Sy + c33Sz−e33Ez σ (p) yz = c44Syz −e15Ey σ(p)zx = c44Szx−e15Ex σ (p) xy = 1 2 (c11− c12)Sxy Dx = e15Szx+ ǫ11Ex Dy = e15Syz + ǫ11Ey Dz = e31Sx+e31Sy+e33Sz + ǫ33Ez (2.5) where c11, c12, c13, c33, c44 are elastic constants, e15, e31, e33 are piezoelectric constants and ǫ11, ǫ33 are dielectric constants. The relation between the strain components and mechanical displacement components as well as the relation between the electric potential field and the electric potential function as follows Sij = 1 2 (ui,j +uj,i) i,j=1,2,3 Ek =−φ,i (2.6) Using equation (2.1) in equation (2.6)1 and equation (2.2) in equation (2.6)2, we have Sx =0 Sy =0 Sz =0 Sxy =0 Syz = ∂w1 ∂y Szx = ∂w1 ∂x (2.7) 996 R. Goyal et al. and Ex =− ∂φ ∂x Ey =− ∂φ ∂y Ez =0 (2.8) Now, substitutingequation (2.7), (2.8) and (2.5), into equation (2.3),wecanobtain thegoverning equations for the piezoelectric layer as c44∇2w1+e15∇2φ= ρ1ẅ1 e15∇2w1− ǫ11∇2φ=0 (2.9) Now, equations (2.9) take the form as ∂2w1 ∂x2 + ∂2w1 ∂y2 = 1 c2p ∂2w1 ∂t2 ∂2φ ∂x2 + ∂2φ ∂y2 = 1 c2p (e15 ǫ11 )∂2w1 ∂t2 (2.10) where cp = √ c∗44/ρ1 , c ∗ 44 = c44 + e 2 15/ǫ11 and cp is the shear wave velocity in the piezoelectric layer. We assume solutions to equations (2.10) in the form of w1 =W1(x)e iξ(y−ct) φ=ϕ(x)eiξ(y−ct) (2.11) where ξ is the wave number and c is the phase velocity. With the help of (2.10) and (2.11), it results in d2W1(x) dx2 +α2ξ2W1(x)= 0 d2ϕ(x) dx2 −ξ2ϕ(x)+ ξ2c2 c2p e15 ǫ11 [A1 sin(αξx)+A2cos(αξx)] = 0 (2.12) where α2 =(c2/c2p)−1. Using the solutions to equations (2.11) and (2.12), we get solutions to equations (2.12) leads to w1(x,y,t)= [A1 sin(αξx)+A2cos(αξx)]e iξ(y−ct) φ(x,y,t) = (e15 ǫ11 [A1 sin(αξx)+A2cos(αξx)]+A3e −ξx+A4e ξx ) eiξ(y−ct) (2.13) whereA1,A2,A3,A4 are arbitrary constants. 2.2. Dynamics of couple stress elastic half-space The equation of motion for the couple stress elastic half-space in the absence of body forces and with the constitutive relations (Hadjesfandiari and Dargush, 2011) is (λ+µ+η∇2)∇(∇·u(c)i )+(µ−η∇ 2)∇2u(c)i = ρ2 ∂2u (c) i ∂t2 σ (c) ji =λuk,kδij +µ(ui,j +uj,i)−η∇ 2(ui,j −uj,i) µji =4η(ωi,j −ωj,i) where ωi = 1 2 ǫijkuk,j (2.14) where i,j,k=1,2,3; λ, µ are Cauchy-Lame constants, η is the couple stress coefficient, η=µl2 where l is characteristic length, u (c) i = [u2,v2,w2] is the displacement vector, ρ2 is the mass density of the couple stress elastic half-space, σ (c) ji is the non-symmetric force-stress tensor and Microstructural considerations on SH-wave propagation... 997 µji is the skew-symmetric couple stress tensor, δij is Kronecker’s delta and ǫijk is the alternating tensor, the superscript index c is used for the lower couple stress elastic half-space. Using equation (2.1) in (2.14)1, we have ∂2w2 ∂x2 + ∂2w2 ∂y2 − l2 (∂4w2 ∂x4 +2 ∂4w2 ∂x2∂y2 + ∂4w2 ∂y4 ) = 1 c21 ∂2w2 ∂t2 (2.15) where c21 =µ/ρ is the shear wave velocity in the couple stress substrate. We assume the solution to equation (2.15) to be w2 =W2(x)e iξ(y−ct) (2.16) where ξ is the wave number and c is the phase velocity. Using this solution in equation (2.15), we get d4W2(x) dx4 −S d2W2(x) dx2 +TW2(x)= 0 (2.17) where S =2ξ2+ 1 l2 T = ξ2 [ ξ2+ 1 l2 ( 1− c2 c21 )] Since the amplitude of waves decreases with an increase in depth in the couple stress elastic half-space, so the solution to differential equation (2.17) becomes w2(x,y,t)= ( A5e −ax+A6e −bx ) eiξ(y−ct) (2.18) where a= √ S+ √ S2−4T 2 b= √ S− √ S2−4T 2 3. Boundary conditions For propagation of SH-waves in a piezoelectric layer lying over a couple stress elastic half-space, the following boundary conditions are to be satisfied: (A) Boundary conditions for the traction-free surface of the piezoelectric layer: 1. Themechanical stress-free condition is: σ (p) zx =0 at x=−H (3.1) 2. The electrical boundary condition on the traction-free surface is: (a) Electrically open condition:Dx =0 at x=−H (3.2) (b) Electrically short condition: φp =0 at x=−H (3.3) (B) Boundary conditions at the common interface of the layer and half-space: 3. Stresses are continuous at the common interface: σ (p) zx =σ (c) zx at x=0 (3.4) 4. Displacement fields are continuous at the common interface: w1 =w2 at x=0 (3.5) 5. Electric potential function should vanish at the common interface: φp =0 at x=0 (3.6) 6. Couple stress tensor should vanish at the common interface: µxy =0 at x=0 (3.7) 998 R. Goyal et al. 4. Dispersion equations Using equations (2.13), (2.18) and their corresponding stress and electrical displacement compo- nents into boundary equations (3.1)-(3.7), we obtain the following algebraic equations in terms of unknown coefficients A1,A2,A3,A4,A5 andA6 αc∗44 cos(αξH)A1+αc ∗ 44 sin(αξH)A2−e15 exp(ξH)A3+e15exp(−ξH)A4 =0 (4.1) exp(ξH)A3− exp(−ξH)A4 =0 (4.2) − e15 ǫ11 sin(αξH)A1+ e15 ǫ11 cos(αξH)A2+exp(ξH)A3+exp(−ξH)A4 =0 (4.3) αξc∗44A1− ξe15A3+ ξe15A4+µa[1− l 2(ξ2−a2)]A5+µb[1− l2(ξ2− b2)]A6 =0 (4.4) A2−A5−A6 =0 (4.5) e15 ǫ11 A2+A3+A4 =0 (4.6) (ξ2−a2)A5+(ξ2− b2)A6 =0 (4.7) 4.1. Dispersion equations for the case of electrically open circuit The conditions mentioned in equations (4.1), (4.2) and (4.4)-(4.7) constitute six boundary conditions for this case. To obtain a non-trivial solution, the determinant of coefficients of the unknowns A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and A6 vanishes. The frequency equation for the SH-wave in an electrically open circuit is obtained as ξ(ka−kb) (e215 ǫ11 tanh(ξH)+αc∗44 tan(αξH) ) +[µa(1− l2ka)kb−µb(1− l2kb)ka] = 0 (4.8) where ka = ξ 2−a2 and kb = ξ2−b2. Equation (4.8) represents dispersion relations of the SH-wave in an electrically open circuit for the piezoelectric layer lying over couple stress elastic half-space. 4.2. Dispersion equations for the case of electrically short circuit The conditions mentioned in equations (4.1) and (4.3)-(4.7) constitute six boundary con- ditions for this case. To obtain a non-trivial solution, the determinant of coefficients of the unknowns A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and A6 vanishes. The frequency equation for the SH-wave in an electrically short circuit is obtained as ξ(ka−kb) [( α2c∗244− e415 ǫ211 ) tan(αξH)tanh(ξH)+2αc∗44 e215 ǫ11 ( 1− sec(αξH) cosh(ξH) )] +[µa(1− l2ka)kb−µb(1− l2kb)ka] ( αc∗44 tanh(ξH)− e215 ǫ11 tan(αξH) ) =0 (4.9) Equation (4.9) represents dispersion relations of the SH-wave in an electrically short circuit for the piezoelectric layer lying over the couple stress elastic half-space. 5. Numerical results For illustrating the results, we have considered a semi-infinite couple stress substrate which is made ofDionysosMarble havingmicrostructural properties (Vardoulakis andGeorgiadis, 1997): ρ=2717kg/m3, µ=30.5 ·109N/m2 and cp =3350m/s. Piezoelectric layers of PZT −5H or BaTiO3 are considered (Liu et al., 2001) having pro- perties as given below: Microstructural considerations on SH-wave propagation... 999 (a) For PZT − 5H ceramics: c44 = 2.30 · 1010N/m2, ρ = 7.50 · 103kg/m3, e15 = 17.0C/m2, ǫ11 =277.0 ·10−10C2/Nm2 (b) For BaTiO3 ceramics: c44 = 4.40 · 1010N/m2, ρ = 7.28 · 103kKg/m3, e15 = 11.0C/m2, ǫ11 =128.0 ·10−10C2/Nm2 Dispersion curves of SH-type waves propagating in a piezoelectric layer overlying a couple stress medium have been examined in Figs. 2-9. Figures 2, 4, 6, 8 correspond to electrically open conditions and Figs. 3, 5, 7, 9 correspond to electrically short conditions. Phase velocity profiles are highly important for propagation of surface waves in the layered structure for its possible applications in sensors, delay lines, filters etc. One of the common feature of all theses characteristic curves is that the non-dimensional phase velocity c/cp decreases with an increase in the non-dimensional wave number ξH. 5.1. Effects of microstructure of the substrate Figures 2 and 3 show variation of the non-dimensional phase speed c/cp with respect to the non-dimensional wave number ξH for different values of characteristic length l = 0.00001m, 0.0001m, 0.0004m.Here, the thickness of the piezoelectric layer is taken asH =0.002m. It can be observed that the microstructure of the substrate affects the phase velocity profiles signifi- cantly. It can be seen from the profiles that with an increase in characteristic length, the phase velocity increases for both considered layers, i.e. for PZT −5H material shown in 2(i) and 3(i) under electrically open conditions and forBaTiO3 material shown in 2(ii) and 3(ii) under elec- trically short conditions, as shown inFigs. 2 and 3, respectively. The characteristic curves clearly demonstrate microstructural effects of the semi-infinite solid substrate that remains ignored in the classical elastic model. Fig. 2. Variation of the non-dimensional phase velocity against the non-dimensional wave number for different values of characteristic length l=0.00001m, 0.0001m, 0.0004m, whenH =0.002m in the case of electrically open conditions; (a) 2(i) for PZT −5H ceramic, (b) 2(ii) forBaTiO3 ceramic 5.2. Effects of thickness of a piezoelectric layer To demonstrate the effects of thickness of a layer on the phase velocity profiles of the SH-wave propagating in a layered structure, here in Figs. 4 and 5 we consider different va- lues of the thickness of the layer i.e. H =0.0005m, 0.002m, 0.05m, their characteristic length l = 0.0001m is kept constant. It is observed that thickness of the layer has adverse effects on the phase velocities and the phase velocity decreases with an increase in thickness of the layer. 1000 R. Goyal et al. Fig. 3. Variation of the non-dimensional phase velocity against the non-dimensional wave number for different values of characteristic length l=0.00001m, 0.0001m, 0.0004m, whenH =0.002m in the case of electrically short conditions; (a) 3(i) for PZT −5H ceramic, (b) 3(ii) forBaTiO3 ceramic Fig. 4. Variation of the non-dimensional phase velocity against the non-dimensional wave number for different values of width of the piezoelectric layerH =0.0005m, 0.002m, 0.05m, when l=0.0001m in the case of electrically open conditions; (a) 4(i) for PZT −5H ceramic, (b) 4(ii) forBaTiO3 ceramic Fig. 5. Variation of the non-dimensional phase velocity against the non-dimensional wave number for different values of width of the piezoelectric layerH =0.0005m, 0.002m, 0.05m, when l=0.0001m in the case of electrically short conditions; (a) 5(i) for PZT −5H ceramic, (b) 5(ii) forBaTiO3 ceramic Microstructural considerations on SH-wave propagation... 1001 Characteristic profiles for the corresponding electrically open and short conditions are shown in Figs. 4 and 5, 4(i) and 5(i) correspond to PZT −5H material and 4(ii) and 5(ii) correspond to BaTiO3 material, respectively. 5.3. Effects of piezoelectric constants Figures 6and7 showvariation of thenon-dimensional speed c/cp against thenon-dimensional wave number ξH for the SH-wave propagation.The characteristic curves are plotted for different values of the piezoelectric parameter e15 =17C/m 2, 21C/m2, 25C/m2 forPZT−5H material shown in 6(i) and 7(i) and e15 =11C/m 2, 15C/m2, 19C/m2 forBaTiO3 material shown in 6(ii) and 7(ii) for both cases of electrically open and short conditions, respectively. The thickness of the layer H = 0.002m and the characteristic length l = 0.0001m associated with couple stress substrate are kept constant. The piezoelectric constant associated with the piezoelectric layer does not favor the phase velocity profiles of SH-waves. It is observed that an increase in the piezoelectric constant leads in general to a decrease in phase velocity profiles for both cases of electrically open and short conditions. Fig. 6. Variation of the non-dimensional phase velocity against the non-dimensional wave number for different values of piezoelectric constants e15 =17, 21, 25C/m 2 in 6(i) and e15 =11, 15, 19C/m 2 in 6(ii), for electrically open cases; (a) 6(i) for PZT −5H ceramic, (b) 6(ii) forBaTiO3 ceramic Fig. 7. Variation of the non-dimensional phase velocity against the non-dimensional wave number for different values of piezoelectric constants e15 =17, 21, 25C/m 2 in 7(i) and e15 =11, 15, 19C/m 2 in 7(ii), for electrically short cases; (a) 7(i) for PZT −5H ceramic, (b) 7(ii) forBaTiO3 ceramic 1002 R. Goyal et al. 5.4. Effects of dielectric constants Figures 8 and 9 show the trend of the non-dimensional speed c/cp with respect to the non-dimensional wave number ξH on the SH-type wave propagation for different values of die- lectric constants ǫ11 =77C 2/Nm2, 177C2/Nm2, 277C2/Nm2 for PZT −5H material shown in 8(i) and 9(i) for electrically open conditions and ǫ11 = 98C 2/Nm2, 128C2/Nm2, 158C2/Nm2 for BaTiO3 material shown in 8(ii) and 9(ii) for electrically short conditions. Here, we have taken the material characteristic length parameter l=0.0001m and the thickness of the piezo- electric layer H =0.002m. Dielectric constants of the piezoelectric layer overlying couple stress substrate affect the phase velocity profiles significantly. It is observed that the phase velocity of SH-waves increases with an increase in the dielectric constant for both considered materials of the piezoelectric layer i.e. PZT − 5H and BaTiO3 materials for both the cases of electrically open and short conditions. Fig. 8. Variation of the non-dimensional phase velocity against the non-dimensional wave number for different values of dielectric constants ǫ11 =77, 177, 277C 2/Nm2 in 8(i), ǫ11 =98, 128, 158C 2/Nm2 in 8(ii), for electrically open cases; (a) 8(i) for PZT −5H ceramic, (b) 8(ii) forBaTiO3 ceramic Fig. 9. Variation of the non-dimensional phase velocity against the non-dimensional wave number for different values of dielectric constants ǫ11 =77, 177, 277C 2/Nm2 in 9(i), ǫ11 =98, 128, 158C 2/Nm2 in 9 (ii), for electrically short case; (a) 9(i) for PZT −5H ceramic, (b) 9(ii) forBaTiO3 ceramic Microstructural considerations on SH-wave propagation... 1003 6. Conclusion Dispersion equations (4.8) and (4.9) provide implicit relations between the phase velocity of SH-wave and different characteristic parameters associated with the layer and substrate. The phase velocity profiles are affected with variation in the associated parameters of the considered layered structure. Themajor conclusions of the studymay be pointed out as follows: (i) The wave number affects the phase velocity profiles of SH-waves significantly. The non- -dimensional phasevelocity decreaseswithan increase in thenon-dimensionalwavenumber in each case of electrically open and short circuits for both considered materials of the piezoelectric layer. (ii) Internal microstructure of the couple stress substrate affects the phase velocity profiles significantly. It is observed that the phase velocity of SH-waves increases with an increase in thecharacteristic length l.Thiseffect justifies considerationofmicrostructuralproperties of the semi-infinite substrate. (iii) Thickness of the piezoelectric layer shows an adverse effect on phase velocity profiles of SH-waves. It is observed that the phase velocity of SH-waves decreases with an increase in the thickness parameter associated with the piezoelectric layer. (iv) The piezoelectric constant affects the phase velocity profiles of SH-wave substantially. Specifically, an increase in the piezoelectric parameter leads to a decrease in the phase velocity of SH-waves propagation in the piezoelectric layer overlying the couple stress elastic half-space. (v) Dielectric constants associatedwith the piezoelectric layer favor the phase velocity profiles of SH-waves. It is observed that with an increase in the dielectric parameter, the phase velocity increases. Thefindings obtained in the paper through theoretical andnumerical demonstrations could help the development of more efficient and high performance Love wave based devices. Acknowledgement The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Indian government research agency: DST (Department of Science and Technology) via Grant No. EMR/2016/002601. References 1. Cosserat E., Cosserat F., 1909,Theory of Deformable Bodies (in French), AHermann et Fils, Paris 2. EringenA.C., 1968,Theoryofmicropolar elasticity, [In:]Fracture,H.Liebowitz (Edit.),Academic Press NewYork, 2, 662-729 3. Ezzin H., Amor M.B., Ghozlen M.H.B., 2017, Propagation behavior of SH waves in layered piezoelectric/piezomagnetic plates,Acta Mechanica, 228, 3, 1071-1081 4. Gupta V., Vashishth A.K., 2016, Effects of piezoelectricity on bulk waves in monoclinic poro- elastic materials, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 54, 2, 571-577 5. Hadjesfandiari A.R., Dargush G.F., 2011, Couple stress theory for solids, International Jo- urnal of Solids and Structures, 48, 2496-2510 6. Jakoby B., Vellekoop M.J., 1997, Properties of Love waves: Applications in sensors, Smart Materials and Structures, 6, 668-679 7. Koiter W., 1964, Couple stresses in the theory of elasticity – I and II,Proceedings of the Konin- klijke Nederlandse Akademie Van Wetenschappen, 67, 17-44 1004 R. Goyal et al. 8. Liu H., Wang Z.K., Wang T.J., 2001, Effect of initial stress on the propagation behavior of Lovewaves in a layered piezoelectric structure, International Journal of Solids and Structures,38, 1, 37-51 9. Liu J., He S., 2010, Properties of Love waves in layered piezoelectric structures, International Journal of Solids and Structures, 47, 2, 169-174 10. Mindlin R.D., Tiersten H.F., 1962, Effects of couple-stresses in linear elasticity, Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, 11, 415-448 11. Sharma V., Kumar S., 2017, Dispersion of SH waves in a viscoelastic layer imperfectly bonded with a couple stress substrate, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 55, 2, 535-546 12. SinghA.K.,KumarS.,ChattopadhyayA., 2015,Love-typewavepropagationinapiezoelectric structure with irregularity, International Journal of Engineering Science, 89, 35-60 13. Vardoulakis I., Georgiadis H.G., 1997, SH surface waves in a homogeneous gradient-elastic half-space with surface energy, Journal of Elasticity, 47, 2, 147-165 14. Voigt W., 1887, Theoretical Studies on the Elasticity Relationships of Crystals (in German), Abhandlungen der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gttingen, 34 15. Wang H.M., Zhao Z.C., 2013, Love waves in a two-layered piezoelectric/elastic composite plate with an imperfect interface,Archive of Applied Mechanics, 83, 1, 43-51 16. Wang Q., 2002, Wave propagation in a piezoelectric coupled solid medium, Journal of Applied Mechanics, 69, 6, 819-824 17. WangY.,WangM.,LiuJ., 2012,PropagationbehaviorsofSHwaves inpiezoelectric layer/elastic cylinder with an imperfect interface,Applied Mechanics and Materials, 151, 130-134 18. Wei W., Liu J., Fang D., 2009, Shear horizontal surface waves in a piezoelectric-piezomagnetic coupled layeredhalf-space, International Journal of Nonlinear Sciences andNumerical Simulation, 10, 6, 767-778 Manuscript received November 9, 2017; accepted for print February 8, 2018