Q. The thermo couple sandwich assembly is made of steel and brass plates as shown below.

The
dimensions of the plates are 30x4x1 (mm). So the total thickness of the assembly is 2 mm. BCs are
shown on the surfaces. All surfaces that do not have BCs, are considered insulated.

Brass Plate

During the initial solve, the temperature field will be determined through the bimetallic strip. In the
second solution this temperature field will be used as input to calculate the stresses and
displacement resulting from the differential expansion of the two metals.
Run FEM to solve for:
1. Temperature distribution
2. Deformation and Stresses
3. You should prepare the models with both Tetra and Hexa elements. Make sure you show
the plots with both type of elements. Compare the results of both models. Try to minimize
the number of elements and achieve reasonable results.
4. Plot the stress , thermal contours and the deformed shape. For the solid elements (Hexa and
Tetra), look into following stresses : Normal X, Y & Z, Shear XY, XZ & YZ, and max
principle. Which element has compressive stresses and which tensile stresses? For thermal
temperature distributions are sufficient.
5. Study the behavior of the thermo-couple by varying the thermal properties as follows:
Thermal Expansion A for steel & brass vary by +/- 50% Convection H 50, 150, 300
Since the total set is reasonably large, try to configure the set that will produce the
maximum stresses and deformation of the thermo-couple. Compare the values with the base
run. Which property has more effect on deformation of thermo-couple? A or H?
6. Can you support and verify your FEM analysis by your knowledge of heat transfer and
MOM?
The Summary/Result section should also answer the following additional questions on a
separate page in order:
1. Which element is deforming more?
2. Which element is going through in compression and which in extension?
3. There is a bending/warping/curving phenomenon. Bending to which side? What caused
that?
4. Although the thermocouple with heat source is expanding, but the stresses are compressive
as well as tensile. What causes this?

Summary:
For Base run model:
Temperature distribution: in C
Hex Mesh

Location

Steel
395
306.9

At heat location
At Fix Location
Parameter
Deflection (mm)
Max. Normal Stress X
(Mpa)
Max. Normal Stress Y
(Mpa)
Max. Normal Stress Z
(Mpa)
Max. Shear Stress XY (Mpa)
Max. Shear Stress XZ (Mpa)
Max. Shear Stress Y-Z
(Mpa)
Maximum Principle
stress (Mpa)

Brass
395
306.9

Mechanics

Tetra Mesh
Steel
Brass
395
395
306.5
306.9

Hexa Mesh
0.871
202.2 Tensile
133.6 Compressive
47.61 Tensile
530.8 Compressive
90.65 Tensile
598.0 Compressive

Tetra Mesh
0.537
337.7 Tensile
513.5 Compressive
73.46 Tensile
1360 Compressive
300.4 Tensile
1360 Compressive

NA

147.4

244.5

NA

296.8

322.6

NA

14.03

81.84

NA

708.1

1579

195.793 Tensile
195.793 Compressive
NA
NA

For Property change Model:

Temperature distribution: in C
Location
At heat location
At Fix Location
Parameter
Deflection (mm)
Normal Stress X
(Mpa)
Normal Stress Y
(Mpa)
Normal Stress Z
(Mpa)
Shear Stress X-Y
(Mpa)

Hex Mesh
Steel
395
247.5
Mechanics
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA

Brass
395
248.1

Tetra Mesh
Steel
Brass
395
395
247.5
248.1

Hexa Mesh
2.237
297.6 Tensile
246.3 Compressive
44.18 Tensile
507.5 Compressive
254.9 Tensile
739.5 Compressive

Tetra Mesh
1.366
1021 Tensile
1162 compressive
222.2 Tensile
1291 Compressive
918.9 Tensile
1291 Compressive

170.4

254

Shear Stress X-Z

(Mpa)
Shear Stress Y-Z
(Mpa)
Maximum Principle
stress (Mpa)
Most dominating variable
Parameter
Displacement (mm)

NA

232.9

375.9

NA

39.11

131.3

NA

752.2

1487

A constant H variable
0.737

H constant A variable
2.65

Conclusion:
1. It can be seen from the results that thermal stresses in both model are reasonable compared
to the MOM result for the normal stress in X direction. values are higher as in MOM
calculations we are not considering effect of convection for the heat transfer.
2. Thermal distribution given by both the meshes is approximately equal.
3. Tetra mesh gives abrupt changes in the results due to course mesh to reduced the errors in
results more fine mesh should be used.
4. From the results the prediction can be done that free expansion of the brass strip is pulling
steel strip and exerting tensile force on the same, and expansion of the steel is less than the
brass so it resists the expansion of brass and exerts compressive force on the brass. i.e. brass
is undergoing compressive stress and steel is undergoing tensile stress.
5. Thermal expansion coefficient of brass is more so it deforms more so appears to be in
tension in the cantilever thermostat strip.
6. When we use the combination of the A and H values it can be seen that we get the maximum
stress value at A value of steel and Brass are 50% and 150% of the original and H is at
maximum i.e. 300.
7. From mechanics we can say that deformation is dependent on thermal expansion coefficient
so brass expands more than steel.
8. As the deformation is dependent on the value of A so it can be seen from the last result
which we got by change in the value of the variables so we can sy that more dominant
variable is A i.e. thermal expansion coefficient.
Answers:
1. Quad elements are deforming more and predicting the displacements. Elements associated
with Brass are deforming more.
2. In this situation there is mismatch between the coefficient of thermal expansion so brass
expand more as it has higher value of CTE and steels expands less, as these two are
connected to each other brass pulls the steel inducing tensile force on the system so steel
undergoes tension and steel tries to resist the expansion inducing compressive forces so
brass it undergoes compressive force.
3. There is bending phenomenon for the cantilever strip condition, this is due to expansion of
the brass and steel. As both expands at different rate so that steel resist the expansion of
brass and layers near contact tend to expand less and comes near to the expansion of steel
and due to pulling effect through brass contact layers of steel expands more than free end.
due to these change in expansion the bending occurs.

4. The difference in thermal expansion causes the tensile and compressive forces in the system
due to different material properties and different coefficient of thermal expansion.
Overall strategy for Mechanics:
1. Problem contains the phenomenon of thermal expansion.
2. As the component is bimetallic strip used in thermo stat, it uses different material with
different coefficient of thermal expansion.
3. Due to this different coefficient of thermal expansion causes different expansions in both
metals and as they are fixed together they induce stress in each other, i.e. material with less
coefficient of thermal expansion produces compression on the other material and which has
the higher coefficient of thermal expansion induces tensile stress on the other.
4. Due to these different stresses induced in the strip it gets the deflection.
5. We can get the thermal expansion by using following formula.
X L X(T2-T1)
6. We can calculate the stresses from following formula.
= P/A
where P we can obtain by comparing expansions and resisting forces
(lt+Pl/AE)= (lt-Pl/AE)
7. We assume that only conduction is taken into consideration for the both metals and
convection at the steel face is neglected only for the calculation ease.
8. We only calculate the normal stress in X direction only & compare them.
Overall strategy for FEM:
1. As the problem contains various cases and comparison of the results of different elements in
FEM, so we first generate the geometry of the object in Hyper mesh and mesh it with the
different elements.
2. As per the problem the thermal analysis need to be carried out for the situation of cantilever
so we create the constraints according to that.
3. We generate the thermal loading conditions and convection conditions for the problem.
4. Then we analyze the first condition of the problem.
5. For the next problems we change the properties for the both the models and try to compare
the results of the same.
6. As there are many combinations are involved in the analysis we consider only the condition
which will give the maximum values of the stress which will be achieved by satisfying the
following conditions.
Coefficient of thermal expansion for brass is increased i.e. 150% of the original.
Coefficient of thermal expansion for steel is decreased i.e. 50% of the original.
Convection at steel surface is maximum i.e. H=300
These condition will increase the expansion of brass and reduce thermal expansion of steel
which will create the maximum forces in the strip and induce the maximum stress in them.
For this case we compare the maximum principle stress and Normal X stress to study the
effect for both the model.
7. In the another condition we keep the one value either A or H constant to study the effect of
them, we calculate this effect for quad mesh only and look at Normal stress and can predict
based on the observations.
8. Now we can compare the results and get the values required.

Material and Property assignment for Hexa Element model in SI system

For steel

For brass

Load and boundary condition application

Convection surface & ambient temp node

Convection material Steel (1= steel)

Load Application Thermal

Load Application structure

Deformed Quad

Property assignment for Tetra mesh

For steel

For brass

Convection surface and ambient temperature node

Deformed Tetra mesh

Thermal distribution:
Hex Mesh

Displacement:
Hex Mesh

Tetra mesh

Tetra Mesh

Maximum Principle Stress:

Hex Mesh

Normal Stress X direction:

Hex Mesh

Tetra Mesh

Tetra Mesh

Normal Stress Y direction:

Hex mesh:

Tetra Mesh

Normal Stress Z direction:

Hex Mesh:

Tetra Mesh

Shear Stress X-Y:

Hex Mesh

Tetra Mesh

Shear Stress X-Z:

Hex Mesh

Tetra Mesh

Shear Stress Y-Z:

Hex Mesh:

Tetra Mesh

Property Variation i.e. expected maximum stress condition:

Hex Mesh
Steel

Brass

Tetra Mesh:
Steel

Brass

Thermal Distribution:

Hex Mesh

Tetra Mesh

Deflection:
Hex Mesh

Tetra Mesh

Maximum Principle Stress

Hex Mesh

Tetra Mesh

Normal Stress X Direction

Hex Mesh

Tetra Mesh

Shear Stress X-Y

Hex Mesh

Tetra Mesh

Effect of property on deformation:

Keeping A constant and varying H

Keeping H constant and varying A