Shell14 – Temperature Gradient Through Shell Thickness

Example Description

This example uses a flat, annular plate to test shell element temperature gradient loading. The applied temperature gradient is linear through the thickness of the shell element. Displacement, rotation and moment results are compared with independent hand calculations based on formulas presented in Roark and Young 1975.
The plate has a 30 inch outer radius, a 3 inch inner radius and is 1 inch thick. It is fixed (clamped) around the outer perimeter. The plate is meshed 9x16 (radial by tangential).
The local axes of all of the area objects (shell elements) and all of the point objects are oriented such that the local 1 axis is radial pointing away from the center of the plate and the local 2 axis is tangential. The local axes are defined in this manner so that the desired results are constant around the inner and outer perimeter of the plate.
A 100 °F temperature gradient is applied through the thickness of the plate where the bottom of the plate is warmer than the top of the plate. The coefficient of thermal expansion is assumed to be 0.0000065 in/in °F.

Tested Features

•  Temperature gradient loading for shell elements
•  Area object local axes
•  Joint local axes