Thermal residual stresses in thermoplastic composite disc with holes using 3D-FEM

In this study thermal residual stresses were calculated for a composite disc with many holes using 3D-FEM. Most of previous studies related to thermal stresses and residual stresses of composite disc were performed as two dimensional, but present study was done using three dimensional modelling and FEM, firstly. The composite disc was thermoplastic matrix and steel fibres for reinforcement material as unidirectional for radial direction. Different uniform temperature distributions were subjected to the thermoplastic composite disc as thermal loads. Finite element method (FEM) was used to compute thermal residual stresses. For this purpose, the thermal stress analysis was carried out in two stages as elastic and elastic-plastic solutions. All modelling and solution processes were done using ANSYS finite element software which is known as a general purpose engineering simulation. According to obtained results, thermal residual stresses in thermoplastic composite disc were created by applied thermal loadings owing to the composite disc having different thermal expansions in radial and tangential directions