Finite element thermal modeling/analysis formulations for layered composite materials

The present paper describes a finite element thermal modeling/analysis approach and formulations for applicability to layered composite materials. A variational approach is adopted for deriving the appropriate element equations. For steady-state/transient problems, the associated element thermal matricies account for the different thermophysical properties in the various layers and also permit elements to span across the boundary or interface of layers of differing thermophysical properties. Furthermore, for transient models, two methods of approach for approximating the capacitance matricies are described. Numerical test cases are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the formulations for thermal modeling/analysis of layered composites.