Abstract:
A streamline upwind finite element method for 6-node triangular elements using a segregated finite element algorithm is developed. An integrated fluid-thermal-structural analysis is presented, where heat conduction in a solid is coupled with heat convection in viscous fluid flow inducing the stress in solid. The streamline upwind finite element method is used for the analysis of viscous thermal flow in the fluid region, while the analyses of heat conduction and thermal stress in solid region are performed by the Galerkin method. The solution algorithm presented in this dissertation uses equal order element interpolation functions for the velocities, pressure, temperature and solid displacements that can reduce the complexity in deriving the finite element equations. A segregated solution algorithm is also incorporated to compute the velocities, pressure and temperature separately for improving the computational efficiency. In addition, the adaptive meshing technique is applied to increase the analysis solution accuracy. A corresponding finite element computer program was developed and verified using simple examples that have exact solutions before applying to solve more complex problems. The computational results from several tested problems illustrate the effectiveness of the presented finite element method that can accurately predict the integrated fluid-thermal-structural phenomena.