Thermoelastic analysis of thick-walled vessels subjected to transient thermal loading

A closed-form solution was derived for the transient thermal fields developed in thickwalled vessels subjected to a plausible exponential heating on the internal surface with convection to the surrounding external environment. The resulting series representation of the temperature distribution as a function of time and radial position was then used to derive new relationships for the transient thermoelastic stress states. The derived expressions allow an easy analysis of the significance of the exponential terms and convective coefficient in determining the magnitudes and distribution of the resulting stress states over time. Excellent agreement was seen between the derived temperature and stress relationships and a finite element analysis when the thermophysical and thermoelastic properties were assumed to be independent of temperature.