The Finite Element Method in Thermomechanics

The rapid advances in the nuclear and aerospace technologies in the past two decades compounded with the increasing demands for high performance, energy-efficient power plant components and engines have made reliable thermal stress analysis a critical factor in the design and operation of such equipment. Recently, and as experienced by the author, the need for sophis­ ticated analyses has been extended to the energy resource industry such as in-situ coal gasification and in-situ oil recovery from oil sands and shales. The analyses in the above applications are of a multidisciplinary nature, and some involve the additional complexity of multiphase and phase change phenomena. These extremely complicated factors preclude the use of classical methods, and numerical techniques such as the finite element method appear to be the most viable alternative solution. The development of this technique so far appears to have concentrated in two extremes; one being overly concerned with the accuracy of results and tending to place all effort in the implementation of special purpose element concepts and computational algorithms, the other being for commercial purposes with the ability of solving a wide range of engineering problems. However, to be versatile, users require substantial training and experience in order to use these codes effectively. Above all, no provision for any modifi­ cation of these codes by users is possible, as all these codes are proprietary and access to the code is limited only to the owners.