Thermal Stresses in Plates

Here a, an experimentally determined material property, is called the coefficient of thermal expansion. Over a moderate temperature change, a remains reasonably constant. In SI units, a is expressed in meters per meter per degree Celsius. Coefficients of thermal expansion for common materials are listed in Table B.3. For isotropic materials, a change in temperature produces no shear strains, that is, γ t = 0. In this text, the modulus of elasticity E and coefficient of thermal expansion a are treated as constants over the temperature ranges involved.