Highly-conductive energetic coherent interfaces subject to in-plane degradation

Abstract

The presence of an interface can influence the thermo-mechanical response of a body. This influence is especially pronounced at small scales where the interface area to bulk volume ratio significantly increases. Since the thermo-mechanical properties of an interface can differ from those of the bulk, within interface continuum theory an interface is endowed with its own thermo-mechanical energetic structure. To date, the effects of interface in-plane damage on the thermo-mechanical response of a highly conductive interface have not been accounted for. Therefore in this contribution the computational aspects of thermo-mechanical solids containing highly conductive interfaces subject to in-plane degradation are studied. To this end, the equations governing a fully non-linear transient problem are given. They are solved using the finite element method. The results are illustrated through a series of three-dimensional numerical examples for various interfacial parameters. In particular a comparison is made between the results of the intact and the degraded highly conductive interface formulation.