- #1
Saladsamurai
- 3,020
- 7
I am trying to understand stresses that are induced by thermal gradients. Now, I can think of a hundred different questions to ask, but I want to take baby steps to get there. Let's just talk about a simple cantilever beam in the x-y plane where the x-axis is the beam's longitudinal axis and the y-axis is parallel to its height. Z points 'into the page' along its thickness.
Let's say that there is a temperature gradient in the x-direction. The beam will want to elongate due to thermal expansion, but the gradient will cause it to want to elongate by different amounts. I am assuming that this will only induce an axial stress/strain.
What if I want to do a simple back-of-envelope calculation to approximate the equivalent axial load required to induce this stress? I was assuming that I can just take the worst ΔT and use:
Any thoughts or issues with this approach?
Let's say that there is a temperature gradient in the x-direction. The beam will want to elongate due to thermal expansion, but the gradient will cause it to want to elongate by different amounts. I am assuming that this will only induce an axial stress/strain.
What if I want to do a simple back-of-envelope calculation to approximate the equivalent axial load required to induce this stress? I was assuming that I can just take the worst ΔT and use:
ΔL/L = ε = αΔT
σ = P/A = εE
so that:
P/(AE) = αΔT
∴ P = AEαΔT
σ = P/A = εE
so that:
P/(AE) = αΔT
∴ P = AEαΔT
Any thoughts or issues with this approach?