Use the Thermal Expansion subnode to add an internal thermal strain caused by changes in temperature. The thermal strain depends on the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE)
α, the temperature
T, and the strain-free reference temperature
Tref as
This section is only present when this node is added under Layered Linear Elastic Material node. In this section, select the layers in which thermal expansion needs to be modeled.
The Volume reference temperature Tref is the temperature at which there are no thermal strains. As a default, the value is obtained from a
Common model input. You can also select
User defined to enter a value or expression for the temperature locally.
When using Common model input, you can see or modify the value of the volume reference temperature by clicking the
Go To Source button (
). This will move you to the
Common Model Inputs node under
Global Definitions in the Model Builder. The default value is room temperature,
293.15 K.
If you want to create a model input value which is local to your current selection, click the Create Model Input button
. This will create a new
Model Input node under
Definitions in the current component, having the same selection as the current
Thermal Expansion node.
From the Temperature T list, select an existing temperature variable from a heat transfer interface (for example,
Temperature (htsh/sol1)), if any temperature variables exist. For
User defined enter a value or expression for the temperature. This is the mid-surface temperature of the shell, controlling the membrane part of the thermal expansion. If needed, you can add a through-thickness temperature gradient in the
Thermal Bending section.
From the Coefficient of thermal expansion α list, select
From material to use the coefficient of thermal expansion from the material, or
User defined to enter a value or expression for
α. Select
Isotropic,
Diagonal or
Symmetric to enter one or more components for a general coefficient of thermal expansion tensor
α. When a nonisotropic coefficient of thermal expansion is used, the axis orientations are given by the coordinate system selection in the parent node.
Enter the Temperature difference in thickness direction ΔTz, which affects the thermal bending. This is the difference between the temperatures at the top and bottom surfaces.
Physics tab with Linear Elastic Material or
Layered Linear Elastic Material node selected in the model tree:
Attributes>Thermal Expansion
