A monolithic approach toward coupled electrodynamic-thermomechanical problems with regard to weak formulations (Q6157700)

The authors propose an energy-based approach, based on a combination of the classical variational principles of Jourdain and Hamilton, for the weak formulation of the fully coupled, electromagnetic-thermomechanical problem of deformable dielectrics. The first variational principle introduces the time rates, while the second one incorporates the essential time integration. The new approach is motivated by an issue raised about the inconsistency of the used physical units in thermodynamics and in electrodynamics, and the impossibility of applying the divergence theorem to separate contributions of domain and boundary when the fully coupled problem is considered within the usual variational approach. The classical Lagrange function is complemented by additional potentials for the heat flux and the electric current, the latter vanishes in the case of dielectrics. Generalized virtual powers of external fields, including dissipative processes, are appropriately determined, thus yielding a consistent formulation for the four-field problem of electromagnetic thermomechanics. Comparison is carried out with a weighted residuals approach. The strong form of the problem is outlined at the beginning, then a weak formulation of the combined four-field problem is developed based on the method of weighted residuals, aiming to demonstrate the issue of unphysical scaling factors. Finally, a new approach is presented. Considerations related to ferroelectrics and ferromagnetics due to domain wall motions, are incorporated in the virtual power of external forces. The introduction of electromagnetic scalar and vector potentials besides mechanical displacements and temperature as independent variables reduces the problem to a minimum of unknowns, thus making the proposed weak formulation valid for the description of rather general models of electromagnetic-thermomechanical continuous media.