A 2D arbitrary polygonal hybrid finite element method for transient thermodynamic coupling problems in <?A3B2 pi6?>particle reinforced composites

Transient heat transfer is a common phenomenon in the development and application of particle reinforced composites (PRCs), and temperature fluctuations often produce complex thermal stress, affecting the material’s service life. However, hybrid finite element methods (FEMs) for analyzing transient heat conduction and thermal stress in PRCs are not widely used, as most remain confined to steady-state scenarios. Based on the generalized multivariate variational splitting principle, this study presents a novel arbitrary polygonal hybrid finite element method (PT-FEM) to solve 2D transient heat conduction and heat stress in PRCs by introducing higher-order temperature and heat flux fields into the element domain. The introduction of higher-order temperature fields allows the method to quickly compute transient temperature fields with high accuracy, followed by real-time transfer of this temperature field to a hybrid stress finite element for thermal stress analysis. Compared with traditional FEM, PT-FEM allows the use of polygonal meshes with an arbitrary number of edges in the computational mesh, and the higher-order temperature field and thermal stress field no longer depend on shape functions. It shows the viability and efficiency of this method by contrasting several numerical examples with traditional FEM. It also highlights the adaptability of arbitrary polygonal elements in meshing PRCs and provides a new approach for analyzing transient heat conduction and thermal stress.