Steady-state response of a thermoelastic half-space to the rapid motion of surface thermal/mechanical loads (Q1390796)

Shear and normal tractions and a heat flux are applied to a largely arbitrary area that moves with constant subsonic speed over a half-space surface. The half-space is a coupled thermoelastic solid of the Jeffreys type, so that the governing steady-state equations involve three thermoelastic characteristic lengths and a dimensionless coupling constant. This constant and one of the lengths remain in the limit as the solid reduces to the standard coupled thermoelastic material. This problem is solved exactly in an integral transform space, and asymptotic expressions for the normal displacement and the temperature change induced on the half-space surface are extracted. The results show marked dependence on both loading zone speed and thermoelastic parameters. Indeed, the role of the latter is enhanced as the speed is increased. Singular behavior is found, in particular when the loading zone moves with the effective thermoelastic Rayleigh speed, an exact formula for which is also given.