Beam Thermal Loads

The thermal loads allow for the introduction of load due to temperature variations in the beam elements. For an axial thermal loading the expansion of the element leads to axial forces, for thermal gradients through the thickness of the element both axial forces and end moments are induced.

$$\begin{aligned}f_{x} &= EA\alpha T_{NA}\\ m_{yy} &= EI\alpha\frac{dT}{dz}\\ m_{zz} &= EI\alpha\frac{dT}{dy}\end{aligned}$$

where $\alpha$ is the temperature coefficient of expansion, $T$ is temperature and the subscript $NA$ refers to the neutral axis.

Note: In GSA, loads can be applied to a list of members or elements. Any loads applied onto members will be automatically expanded into the appropriate elements loads in the solver in order to analyse the model.