THE COSSERAT SPECTRUM THEORY IN THERMOELASTICITY AND APPLICATION TO THE PROBLEM OF HEAT-FLOW PAST A RIGID SPHERICAL INCLUSION

We apply the Cosserat Spectrum theory to boundary value problems in th ermoelasticity and show the advantages of this method The thermoelasti c displacement field caused by a general heat flow around a spherical rigid inclusion is calculated and the results show that the discrete C osserat eigenfunctions converge fast and thus provide a practical meth od for solving three-dimensional problems in thermoelasticity: In the case of uniform heat flow, the solution is obtained analytically in cl osed form and a variational principle within the frame of the Cosserat Spectrum theory shows that the solution maximizes the elastic energy.