A novel to perform a thermoelastic analysis using digital image correlation and the boundary element method

This work aims for a novel thermoelastic analysis methodology based on experimental steady-state temperature data and numerical displacement evaluation. The temperature data was acquired using thermal imaging and used as the input for a boundary element method (BEM) routine to evaluate its consequent thermoelastic displacement. The thermoelastic contribution to the resultant displacement arises in the BEM formulation as a domain integral, which compromises the main benefits of the BEM. To avoid the necessity of domain discretization, the radial integration method (RIM) was applied to convert the thermoelastic domain integral into an equivalent boundary integral. Due to its mathematical development, the resultant formulation from RIM requires the temperature difference to be input as a function. The efficacy of the proposed methodology was verified based on experimental displacement fields obtained via digital image correlation (DIC) analysis. For this purpose, a CNC (computer numerical control) marker was developed to print the speckle pattern instead of preparing the specimen by using manual spray paint or using commercially available pre-painted adhesives. The good agreement observed in the comparison between the numerical and experimental displacements indicates the viability of the proposed methodology.