Coupled thermal/mechanical analysis for the fracture of functionally graded materials under transient thermal loading

A comprehensive treatment of fracture of functionally graded materials (FGMs) is provided. It is assumed that the material properties depend only on the coordinate perpendicular to the crack surfaces and vary continuously along the crack faces. By using a laminated composite plate model to simulate the material non-homogeneity, an algorithm for solving the system based on Laplace transform and Fourier transform techniques is presented. Unlike earlier studies that considered certain assumed property distributions and a single crack problem, the current investigation studies multiple crack problem in the FGMs with arbitrarily varying material properties. Transient thermal stresses are presented. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos 10102004 and 19902003).