Nonlinear transient thermo-elastic analysis of TFTR protective plate assembly

Abstract A fully coupled transient analysis of a nonlinear thermo-elastic solid via the generalized finite element method is presented. Green and Lindsay's dynamic thermo-elastic equations are adopted since they allow for the so-called “second-sound” effects and reduce to classical equations by the appropriate choice of the parameters. Both convective and radiative boundary conditions are considered. Time integration of the resulting nonlinear semi-discrete finite element equations is performed by using an implicit/explicit predictor/multi-corrector scheme. Then a protective plate assembly in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) is modeled and numerical results are presented.