Boundary element analysis of linear quasi-static coupled transient thermoelasticity

Traditionally, transient thermoelastic problems have been solved by assuming that the determination of temperature can be uncoupled from the determination of strain. Thus it is postulated that a change in temperature causes the material to strain, but that straining causes no temperature change. This semi- coupled approach usually provides an adequate approximation, however, a more theoretically sound treatment recognises the coupling of strain and temperature fields. In this paper, a boundary integral equation is derived and a numerical procedure based on this equation is implemented. A comparison of analytic and numerical solutions provides a means of assessing the accuracy of numerical solutions.