A new formulation for thermal analysis of composites by hybrid boundary node method

In this paper, a new formulation based on the hybrid boundary node method (Hybrid BNM) is proposed for thermal analysis of composites. The Hybrid BNM is a boundary type meshless method which based on the modified variational principle and the Moving Least Squares (MLS) approximation. In the new formulation, continuity conditions are used as the conventional multi-domain solver and the unknowns of the interfaces are assembled only once in the final system equation, which can reduce both the computational time and memory required. The new formulation is quiet suitable for the inclusion-based composites, especially for the case when the inclusions are solid and totally embedded in the matrix domain. The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based composites are also discussed and studied by the new formulation. It shows that the thickness of the CNT has little influence on the thermal properties of the composites. Numerical examples are presented to verify the new formulation and the results have shown the accuracy and efficiency of the new formulation.