0000000001143145

AUTHOR

Ronald C. Averill

An Improved Thermal Lamination Model for Analysis of Heat Transfer in Composite Structures

A new thermal lamination model and its associated finite element model are presented for analysis of heat transfer in laminated composite structures. The form of the present model closely resembles that of recent zig-zag sublaminate structural laminate theories. The through-thickness distribution of temperature is assumed to vary linearly within each ply, and continuity of transverse flux at ply interfaces is enforced analytically. Thus, the number of computational degrees-offreedom (DOFs) is made independent of the number of plies in the sublaminate. In its present form, the model contains only two computational DOFs in each sublaminate–the temperature at the top and bottom surface of the…

research product

A penalty-based finite element interface technology

Abstract An effective and robust interface element technology able to connect independently modeled finite element subdomains is presented. This method has been developed using the penalty constraints and allows coupling of finite element models whose nodes do not coincide along their common interface. Additionally, the present formulation leads to a computational approach that is very efficient and completely compatible with existing commercial software. A significant effort has been directed toward identifying those model characteristics (element geometric properties, material properties and loads) that most strongly affect the required penalty parameter, and subsequently to developing si…

research product