CALCULATION OF THE ELECTROTHERMAL TEMPERATURE AND STRESS FIELDS IN A CONDUCTIVE THIN PLATE WITH MULTIPLE CRACKS

The temperature and stress fields in a thin plate with collinear cracks are determined in this paper when an electric current is activated to stop crack propagation at remote distance from the cracks. A complex function method is used to find the distribution of the electric current, temperature and stress fields. Temperature dependency for the heat-transfer coefficient, coefficient of linear expansion and the elastic modulus are considered. As an example, the temperature and stress fields of a high temperature alloy (No.GH2132) plate with two collinear cracks is calculated. Relationships between the stress, temperature, electric current density and crack size are obtained. The effect of variation of the heat conductivity factor with temperature on the temperature field is also discussed.