Mixed Lagrangian Formulation for Linear Thermoelastic Response of Structures

Although a complete unified theory for elasticity, plasticity, and damage does not yet exist, an approach on the basis of thermomechanical principles may be able to serve as the foundation for such a theory. With this in mind, as a first step, a mixed formulation is developed for fully coupled, spatially discretized linear thermoelasticity under the Lagrangian formalism by using Hamilton's principle. A variational integration scheme is then proposed for the temporal discretization of the resulting Euler-Lagrange equations. With this discrete numerical time-step solution, it becomes possible, for proper choices of state variables, to restate the problem in the form of an optimization. Ultimately, this allows the formulation of a principle of minimum generalized complementary potential energy for the discrete-time thermoelastic system.