Analysis of Thermal Stresses in a Composite Functionally Graded Material Plate by Finite Element Method

In order to study the steady thermal stresses in a ceramic/FGM/metal composite plate a finite element model is constructed to analyze the steady temperature under convective heat transfer boundary. The mathematical model for the stresses in the plate was established, based on the functional of heat conduction. The FE basic equation of the one-dimensional heat conduction of the plate was derived. The continuum is divided into 750 elements and 751 nodes using eight node hexahedral elements. The first-order shear deformation plate model is exploited to investigate the uncoupled thermal behavior of functionally graded plates. The stress distributions of the plate were obtained and compared with those of the non graded two-layered composite plate. The results show the various degrees of the effects of thickness and composition in FGM gradient layer on thermal stresses of the plate, and the stress distributions in a graded threelayered composite plate are gentler. The model can effectively analyze the steady thermal stresses in ceramic/FGM/metal plate and the effect factors.