Abstract：A super wedge tip element for application to bi-material wedge is develop utilizing the numerical stress and displacement field eigen-solutions based on an ad hoc finite element eigenanalysis method. Singular stresses near apex of arbitrary bi-material wedges under thermal loading can be obtained from the super wedge tip element. Different from the super wedge tip element for pure mechanical loading, the thermal-mechanical coupling behavior is considered in the expression of total potential functional, and the thermal-mechanical stress field is decomposed as singular terms and non-singular terms in which the singular terms include the homogeneous solutions of thermal and mechanical loadings. The validity and applicability of this novel element are established through existing asymptotic solutions and conventional detailed finite element analysis. All numerical examples show that the novel finite element method yields satisfactory solutions with few elements, and is applicable to the problem of multiple singular points.
2013, Vol. 34 
