A unified numerical approach for thermal stress waves

Abstract A unified numerical approach is introduced for the analysis of thermal stress waves. The algorithm is derived from the concept of heat displacement and a variational formulation in Lagrangian form. The objective of the paper is to demonstrate that by using the unified approach an existing computer code for isothermal finite element stress analysis can easily be modified to extend its capability to solve thermal stress problems. Numerical examples are given for the Danilovskaya's problems in dynamic thermoelasticity using a plane analysis computer code. It shows that the unified approach is particularly suitable for the study of thermally-induced waves including thermomechanical coupling effects.