Dynamic analysis of thermo-viscoelasticity in multi-physical systems: A bond graph approach

Controlling thermo-mechanical behavior of multi-physical systems has always been a challenge, as the general system behavior in this case is a result of complex energetic transactions between the system existing subdomains. In this study we propose a novel thermo-viscoelastic model in which the thermo-mechanical behavior of the system is generated from the interactive dynamics of its involving subdomains. The proposed model provides an energetic structure with which the general behavior of the system is obtained for the constructive dynamics of each subdomain. This capability of the model leads to an automatic capturing of the thermo-mechanical phenomena inside the system. The obtained simulation results for a simple beam structure demonstrate the impacts of the internal dynamics on the observable behavior of the system, and prove the capability of the model in covering a wide range of thermo-mechanical behavior including material softening, vibrational heating, dilation, relaxation, conduction, and damping.