To date, the effects of interface in-plane damage on the thermomechanical response of
a thermally general imperfect (GI) and mechanically coherent energetic
interface are not taken into account. A thermally GI interface allows for a
discontinuity in temperature as well as in the normal heat flux across the interface.
A mechanically coherent energetic interface permits a discontinuity in the
normal traction but not in the displacement field across the interface. The
temperature of a thermally GI interface is a degree of freedom and is computed
using a material parameter known as the sensitivity. The current work is the
continuation of the model developed by Esmaeili et al. (2016a) where a degrading
highly conductive (HC) and mechanically coherent energetic interface is
considered. An HC interface only allows for the jump in normal heat flux and
not the jump in temperature across the interface. In this contribution, a
thermodynamically consistent theory for thermally GI and mechanically coherent
energetic interfaces subject to in-plane degradation is developed. A computational
framework to model this class of interfaces using the finite element method is
established. In particular, the influence of the interface in-plane degradation on the
sensitivity is captured. To this end, the equations governing a fully nonlinear
transient problem are given. They are solved using the finite element method.
The results are illustrated through a series of three-dimensional numerical
examples for various interfacial parameters. In particular, a comparison is made
between the results of the intact and the degraded thermally GI interface
formulation.
Keywords
thermomechanically energetic interfaces, interface
elasticity, general imperfect interfaces, nonlocal damage,
nanomaterials, finite element method