Analytical Solution of Stationary Coupled Thermoelasticity Problem for Inhomogeneous Structures

Abstract

A mathematical statement for the coupled stationary thermoelasticity is given on the basis of a variational approach and the contact boundary problem is formulated to consider inhomogeneous materials. The structure of general representation of the solution from the set of the auxiliary potentials is established. The potentials are analyzed depending on the parameters of the model, taking into account the restrictions associated with additional requirements for the positive definiteness of the potential energy density for the coupled problem in the one-dimensional case. The novelty of this work lies in the fact that it attempts to take into account the effects of higher order coupling between the gradients of the temperature fields and the gradients of the deformation fields. From a mathematical point of view, this leads to a change in the roots of the characteristic equation and affects the structure of the solution. Contact boundary value problems are formulated for modeling inhomogeneous materials and a solution for a layered structure is constructed. The analysis of the influence of the model parameters on the structure of the solution is given. The features of the distribution of mechanical and thermal fields in the region of phase contact with a change in the parameters, which are characteristic only for gradient theories of coupled thermoelasticity and stationary thermal conductivity, are discussed. It is shown, for example, that taking into account the additional parameter of connectivity of gradient fields of deformations and temperatures predicts the appearance of rapidly changing temperature fields and significant localization of heat fluxes in the vicinity of phase contact in inhomogeneous materials.

Keywords

• second gradient theory
• coupled thermoelasticity
• fundamental solutions
• contact boundary problems
• scale parameters
• thermal resistance