Tolerance averaging of heat conduction in transversally graded laminates

It is considered a heat conduction in a layer made of two conductors distributed in the form of laminas with varied thicknesses. Macroscopic (averaged) properties of the layer are continuously "transversally" graded across its thickness (TGL layer), cf. Fig. 1. The aim of the paper is to present and apply an averaged model of the heat conduction, obtained within the tolerance averaging technique, discussed in the book edited by Wozniak et al. (Thermomechanics of microheterogeneous solids and structures. Tolerance averaging approach, Lodz, Wydawnictwo Politechniki Lodzkiej, 2008). It is shown that the proposed model describes the microstructural effect on the heat conduction of the TGL layer. Moreover, results obtained within this model are compared to results by the higher order theory (cf. Aboudi et al., Composites B, 30: 777-832, 1999).