Three-dimensional steady thermal stress analysis by triple-reciprocity boundary element

The steady thermal stress problems without heat generation can be solved easily by the boundary element method. However, for the case with arbitrary heat generation, the domain integral is necessary. In this paper, it is shown that the problems of three-dimensional steady thermal stress with heat generation can be approximately solved without the domain integral by the triple-reciprocity boundary element method. In this method, an arbitrary distribution of heat generation is interpolated by boundary integral equations. In order to solve the problem, the values of heat generation at internal points and on the boundary are used. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.