Mixed-mode thermal stress intensity factors from the finite element discretized symplectic method

Abstract

A finite element discretized symplectic method is introduced to find the thermal stress intensity factors (TSIFs) under steady-state thermal loading by symplectic expansion. The cracked body is modeled by the conventional finite elements and divided into two regions: near and far fields. In the near field, Hamiltonian systems are established for the heat conduction and thermoelasticity problems respectively. Closed form temperature and displacement functions are expressed by symplectic eigen-solutions in polar coordinates. Combined with the analytic symplectic series and the classical finite elements for arbitrary boundary conditions, the main unknowns are no longer the nodal temperature and displacements but are the coefficients of the symplectic series after matrix transformation. The TSIFs, temperatures, displacements and stresses at the singular region are obtained simultaneously without any post-processing. A number of numerical examples as well as convergence studies are given and are found to be in good agreement with the existing solutions.