Heat conduction and thermal analysis in multilayered plates and shells

This work solves the Fourier heat conduction equation in the case of layered structures embedding orthotropic layers ill order to obtain a calculated temperature profile in the thickness direction. The calculated temperature profile theta(z) is obtained for both plate and shell geometries. Several comparisons between the calculated temperature profile and the usual assumption of linear form of theta(z) in the thickness direction are given. A wrong temperature profile gives an erroneous thermal load for the static analysis of layered structures. Proposed results show the effect of a wrong use of theta(z) on the static response of multilayered plates and shells. It is concluded that in the analysis of multilayered structures the correct solution of the heat conduction equation could be mandatory with respect to any further evaluation. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.