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Model ID: 2205

Heat Generation in a Vibrating Structure

When a structure is subjected to high frequency vibrations, a significant amount of heat can be generated due to mechanical (viscoelastic) losses in the material. A second mechanism contributing to the slow temperature rise in a vibrating structure is called thermoelastic damping, and represents the energy transfer between the thermal and mechanical domains.

In this example, a fully coupled thermoelastic response for a vibrating beam-like structure is computed by combining the stress-strain analysis with the linearized heat-transport equation. The analysis is performed in the frequency domain.

The temperature rise in the beam is then modeled as a transient heat-transfer problem, where the corresponding heat-transfer equation contains two source terms computed using the results of the frequency response analysis. These terms represent the heat generation due to mechanical losses in the material and nonlinear effects related to the thermoelastic damping.

Heat Generation in a Vibrating Structure Temperature increase in the beam after 2 seconds of forced vibration.


Engineering Fields

  • Thermal Expansion
  • Dynamics & Vibrations
  • Actuators

Application Areas

  • Structural Mechanics
  • MEMS

Products Used

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