Inversion and decoupling of thermo-mechanical deformation in anisotropic materials using the virtual fields method

In this paper, the inverses of both the elastic constants and the thermal expansion coefficients of anisotropic materials are used to decouple thermo-mechanical deformation using the virtual fields method (VFM). First, a method for inversing and decoupling the thermo-mechanical deformation field under three-point bending loading is proposed based on the VFM. Second, thermo-mechanical coupled deformation of the three-point bending specimen is simulated by means of the finite-element method, and the inverse of the thermo-mechanical elastic constants are used, which agree well with the reference value. Finally, the influences of the noise level on the accuracy of the thermo-mechanical constants from the VFM are discussed. The results will provide a new method for characterizing thermo-mechanical elastic constants and decoupling the thermo-mechanical deformation of anisotropic materials under high-temperature environments.