Thermo-mechanical coupling analysis of the orthotropic structures by using element-free Galerkin method

Abstract

The computational model of thermo-mechanical coupling analysis for orthotropic structures was established based on the element-free Galerkin (EFG) method. The computational method and programs was verified through engineering thermoelastic problems of complex orthotropic structures. The influence of off-angle and the orthotropic material factors including thermal conductivity orthotropic factor, thermal expansion orthotropic factor, Poisson's ratio factor on the thermal deformation and thermal stress was investigated, and the reasonable range of these parameters was provided. A group of these preferred parameters were used to finish the thermo-mechanical coupling analysis of the orthotropic structure by using the proposed model and the results show that the maximum value of thermal deformation and thermal stress for orthotropic structure is reduced by 11% and 24% compared with the isotropic structure, respectively. The EFG solutions show a higher calculation precision than the finite element method (FEM) solutions in practical orthotropic thermoelastic problems. The off-angle affects the magnitude and direction of total thermal deformation displacement and the magnitude of Mises stress, while orthotropic materials factors only affect the magnitude of total thermal deformation displacement and the Mises stress without affecting the direction. The reasonable off-angle and orthotropic material factors can effectively improve thermal deformation and thermal stress.