Solids 3-D with bounded tensile strength under the action of thermal strains. Theoretical aspects and numerical procedures

This paper is devoted to illustrate some numerical procedures to solve the boundary equilibrium problems of three-dimensional solids that are subjected to thermal strains. The constitutive equations take into account the bounded tensile strength of the material and they are presented in the framework of non-linear elasticity and small strains. The associated equilibrium problem is solved numerically by means of the finite element method and the numerical techniques, i.e. the Newton-Raphson method and the secant method, are revised in order to assure the solution convergence of the discretized problem. Some numerical examples are illustrated.