An improved thermal lamination model for analysis of heat transfer in composite structures

A new thermal lamination model and its associated finite element model are presented for analysis of heat transfer in laminated composite structures. The form of the present model closely resembles that of recent zig-zag sublaminate structural laminate theories, The through-thickness distribution of temperature is assumed to vary linearly within each ply, and continuity of transverse flux at ply interfaces is enforced analytically. Thus, the number of computational degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) is made independent of the number of plies in the sublaminate. In its present form, the model contains only two computational DOFs in each sublaminate - the temperature at the top and bottom surface of the sublaminate. This model lends itself well to development of convenient and efficient finite element models, as demonstrated herein. Both linear and nonlinear numerical results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the present approach.