Thermal stress of porous semi infinite media subjected to gas infiltration and heat transfer

When a porous solid is subjected to both gas infiltration and heat transfer, thermal stresses are generated in such a solid. In the previous repot, fundamental theory for a porous solid under such a complex situation was developed. In this study, a thermal stress problem for a porous solid with a flat boundary surface, which is generally called a semi-infinite space, subjected to a concentrated point loading is investigated. A method of solution based upon displacement potential and Fourier integral transform techniques is applied to solve the problem. Closed form solutions of the gas pressure, solid temperature and thermal stress fields in semi-infinite porous media are presented. It is shown that the thermal stress solution for the problem includes only a free expansion term caused due to the gas pressure and external pressure at the free boundary surface. Numerical results reveal that the thermal stress increases with the gas permeability (k/λ). © 2013 The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.