We derive a series solution for the electro-elastic field inside an anisotropic
piezoelectric half-plane containing an elliptical hole or a crack when the half-plane is
subjected to in-plane mechanical and electric loadings. Our solution is based on a
specific type of conformal map which allows for the mapping of a complete
half-plane (without a hole) onto the interior of the unit circle in the imaginary
plane. We illustrate our solution with several examples. We show that with
decreasing distance between the hole and the edge of the half-plane, the
maximum hoop stress around the hole increases rapidly under mechanical
loading but slowly in the presence of electric loading. In particular, for a
crack with particular orientation in a piezoelectric half-plane subjected to
pure shear, we find that the mode-II stress intensity factor at the crack tip
farthest from the edge of the half-plane may decrease as the crack approaches
the edge. Moreover, if the distance between the crack or the elliptical hole
and the edge of the half-plane exceeds four times the size of the hole or
semi-length of the crack, the half-plane can be treated essentially as a whole plane
without inducing significant errors in the stress concentration around the
hole or in the stress and electric displacement intensity factors at the crack
tips.