Quick Review and Assessment of Thermal Stress Analyses for Exact and Assumed Temperature Distribution for Composite and Sandwich Laminates

A simple semi-analytical approach is used in the present studies to achieve a thermal response of composite and sandwich layered materials in stresses and displacements. Three-dimensional (3D) heat conduction formulation has been formulated as a boundary value problem (BVP) to obtain accurate through-thickness temperature variation, which is further used for thermal stress analysis. Four layered domains of composite and/or sandwich laminate with variable degrees of orthotropic and several transverse and in-plane aspect ratios have been used for numerical investigation. Exact solutions from past studies have been used for comparison with the outcomes received in the present study and proved the accuracy and efficiency of current developments. Additionally, simple constant and linear through-thickness temperature variation has been considered for stress analysis to highlight the importance and need for exact temperature distribution for thermal stress analysis of composite and sandwich laminates. The presented semi-analytical approach achieves the benefit of exact analysis and numerical analysis and leads to accuracy and computational efficiency.