On the Inclusion Model of Localized Heating in an Elastic Plane

Abstract

Failure localization in a variety of mechanical structures may be ascribed to elevated temperature, which may be effectively analyzed by employing the inclusion model. This work presents an explicit solution to the plane thermal inclusion problem, based on the customized Green’s function. A contour integral representation is further developed so as to provide an effective and straightforward approach for treating an arbitrarily shaped inclusion. Several benchmark examples are examined to validate the present solution.