Unified finite element approach for generalized coupled thermoelastic analysis of 3D beam-type structures, part 2: Numerical evaluations

This article aims to evaluate the high-fidelity one-dimensional finite elements that have been proposed in the companion article (Part 1). Simple structural configurations that are subjected to different loading and boundary conditions have been considered to demonstrate the generality of the proposed approach. Static, quasi-static, and dynamic analyses of the coupled and uncoupled thermoelasticity have been performed. The kinematics of the beam elements have been obtained using bidimensional Lagrangian expansions with different polynomial orders. In particular, bilinear, biquadratic, and bicubic expansions have been adopted to approximate both displacements and temperature change field. Convergence studies have been performed by considering finite beam elements with two, three, and four nodes. Analytical and numerical solutions have been reported to validate the current results. Besides time histories of displacements and temperature changes, the results have been presented using contour plots to highlight the three-dimensional capabilities of the refined beam elements.