Date of Award
8-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Materials Science and Engineering
Committee Chair/Advisor
Dr. Fei Peng
Committee Member
Dr. Mark Johnson
Committee Member
Dr. Jianhua Tong
Abstract
A finite element framework was developed in FEniCS to evaluate the thermo-mechanical, vibrational, and Maxwell-type relaxation response of a laser-irradiated ceramic-like plate. The model used a stationary Gaussian laser heat flux with convection, nonlinear radiation, temperature-dependent thermal conductivity, Young’s modulus, and thermal expansion coefficient. The thermo-mechanical responses were evaluated under two clamp thermal conditions, namely the insulated clamp and the heat-sink clamp. The calculated temperature was used as input in small-strain thermoelasticity to calculate stress and displacement. Subsequent analysis considered free vibration, externally forced vibration and a Maxwell-type material relaxation for qualitative stress-relaxation evaluation. At a laser line heat input of 2000 W/m, the heat-sink clamp reduced the steady-state maximum temperature from 1013.54 K to 966.64 K, and the maximum 2D equivalent von Mises stress from 4388.68 MPa to 3073.40 MPa, and the maximum in-plane tensile principal stress decreased from 539.60 MPa to 375.84 MPa. The transient results showed the same trend, and Backward Euler and Crank-Nicolson schemes gave nearly identical responses for the selected time step. The vibration analysis showed that as the excitation approached the first bending frequency, the forced-vibration response increased, whereas harmonic excitation of the laser-heated sample produced similar dynamic tip displacement under both clamp conditions. The results show that clamp heat removal, temperature-dependent properties, dynamic loading, and relaxation must be considered when predicting the mechanical response of laser-heated ceramic structures.
Recommended Citation
Alim, Md. Abdul, "A Finite Element Modeling Framework for Thermo-Mechanical, Vibrational, and Relaxation Analysis of Laser-Irradiated Ceramic-Based Composite Materials" (2026). All Theses. 4820.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/4820
Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0002-3662-5710