A boundary element method for anisotropic coupled thermoelasticity

Summary A boundary element formulation is presented for the solution of the equations of fully coupled thermoelasticity for materials of arbitrary degree of anisotropy. By employing the fundamental solutions of anisotropic elastostatics and stationary heat conduction, a system of equations with time-independent matrices is obtained. Since the fundamental solutions are uncoupled and time-independent, a domain integral remains in the representation formula which contains the time-dependence as well as the thermoelastic coupling. This domain integral is transformed to the boundary by means of the dual reciprocity method. By taking this approach, the use of dynamic fundamental solutions is avoided, which enables an efficient calculation of system matrices. In addition, the solution of transient processes as well as, free and forced vibration analysis becomes straightforward and can be carried out with standard time-stepping schemes and eigensystem solvers. Another important advantage of the present formulation is its versatility, since it includes a number of simplified thermoelastic theories, viz. the theory of thermal stresses, coupled and uncoupled quasi-static thermoelasticity, and stationary thermoelasticity. The accuracy of the new thermoelastic boundary element method is demonstrated by a number of example problems. Support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) of the Graduate Collegium Modelling and discretization methods for continua and fluids (GKKS) at the University of Stuttgart is gratefully acknowledged.     

Uniqueness in linear coupled thermoelasticity

It is shown that the boundary-initial-value problem of linear coupled thermoelasticity has at most one regular solution on unbounded domains in a very large function class.     

Closed solutions of boundary-value problems of coupled thermoelasticity

Coupled equations of thermoelasticity take into account the effect of nonuniform heating on the medium deformation and that of the dilatation rate on the temperature distribution. As a rule, the coupling coefficients are small and it is assumed, sometimes without proper justification, that the effect of the dilatation rate on the heat conduction process can be neglected. The aim of the present paper is to construct analytical solutions of some model boundary-value problems for a thermoelastic bounded body and to determine the body characteristic dimensions and the medium thermomechanical moduli forwhich it is necessary to take into account that the temperature and displacement fields are coupled. We consider some models constructed on the basis of the Fourier heat conduction law and the generalized Cattaneo-Jeffreys law in which the heat flux inertia is taken into account. The solution is constructed as an expansion in a biorthogonal system of eigenfunctions of the nonself-adjoint operator pencil generated by the coupled equations of motion and heat conduction. For the model problem, we choose a special class of boundary conditions that allows us to exactly determine the pencil eigenvalues.     

DIFFERENTIAL-ALGEBRAIC APPROACH TO COUPLED PROBLEMS OF DYNAMIC THERMOELASTICITY

An efficient numerical approach for the general thermomechanical problems was developed and it was tested for a two-dimensional thermoelasticity problem. The main idea of our numerical method is based on the reduction procedure of the original system of PDEs describing coupled thermomechanical behavior to a system of Differential Algebraic Equations (DAEs) where the stress-strain relationships are treated as algebraic equations. The resulting system of DAEs was then solved with a Backward Differentiation Formula (BDF) using a fully implicit algorithm. The described procedure was explained in detail, and its effectiveness was demonstrated on the solution of a transient uncoupled thermoelastic problem, for which an analytical solution is known, as well as on a fully coupled problem in the two-dimensional case.     

Comparative asymptotic analysis of coupled and uncoupled thermoelasticity

The asymptotic solution of the three-dimensional dynamic of coupled thermoelasticity problem (with the mutual influence of the strain and temperature fields taken into account) for an isotropic rectangular plate is used to perform a comparative analysis of the results obtained according to this theory and the theory of temperature stresses. The parameters whose values affect the applicability of these theories and of the applied theory used to solve quasistatic problems of thermoelasticity are obtained.     

Classical and generalized coupled thermoelasticity analysis in one-dimensional layered media

The behavior of thermoelastic waves at the interface of layered medium and distributions of these waves through the domain are examined by applying the direct finite element method to obtain the field variables directly within the spatial and temporal domains. The analysis is performed in a one-dimensional domain with two different layers to provide a means to follow the behavior of the reflected thermoelastic waves at the interface. It appears that the distributions of thermoelastic waves in an isotropic slab with one layer are significantly different from those in multilayered slabs. For instance, the negative displacement waves, several stresses with positive or negative signs and temperature distributions produced in the multilayered domains, are quite different from those in a single layer. This method may be generalized to simulate the propagation of thermoelastic waves in various multilayered regions and analyze the behavior of the layered composite structures under the mechanical or thermal impact loads.     

On problem of transient coupled thermoelasticity of an annular fin

In this paper, the radial deformation and the corresponding stresses in a homogeneous annular fin for an isotropic material has been investigated. A numerical technique is proposed to obtain the solution of the transient coupled thermoelasticity in an annular fin cylinder with it’s base suddenly subject to a heat flux of a decayed exponential function of time. The system of fundamental equations is solved by using an implicit finite-difference method. The present method is a second-order accurate in time and space and unconditionally stable. A numerical method is used to calculate the temperature, displacement and the components of stresses with time t and through the radial of the annular fin cylinder. The results indicate that the effect of coupled thermoelasticity on temperature, stresses and displacement is very pronounced. Comparison is made with the results predicted by the theory of thermoelasticity in the absence of coupled thermoelasticity.