On the use of thermoelastically measured isopachics and boundary elements for inverse stress analysis

This research develops and demonstrates ability to stress analysis inverse problems by combining boundary-element (BEM) and thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) methods. Thermoelasticity gives isopachic data, (S = σ ₁ + σ₂). An important feature is the formulation of an effect regional element (consisting of three boundary elements) which enables reliable evaluation of S at a boundary (traction or traction-free) from non-boundary measured information. The present TSA-BEM method for stress analyzing inverse problems further enhances thermoelasticity's ability to solve practical but challenging engineering problems.