Stress intensity factor for transient thermal stresses in a transversely isotropic infinite body with an external circular crack (Q1084906)

The present work deals with the transient thermal stress in a transversely isotropic infinite body with an external circular crack. The surface cooling of the crack depends on position and time. Since it is usually very difficult to obtain an analytical solution for the temperature field, a finite difference formulation with respect to a time variable is introduced. In the first step, applying this method to the general heat conduction equation in an orthotropic body, a very compact difference equation with respect to the spatial variables is obtained. In the second step, this method is applied to the transient thermoelastic problem in a transversely isotropic infinite body with an external circular crack subjected to heat exchange on the crack surface. Thermal stresses are analyzed by means of the transversely isotropic potential functions method.