Temperature profiles in composite plates subject to time-dependent complex boundary conditions

The use of composites and multi-layered systems is increasingly important in today’s design industry. Very often these materials must be used within demanding temperature environments. The ability to accurately describe the temperature distribution through multi-layered specimens is, therefore, an essential step in the design process. This paper provides an analytical tool for temperature prediction through multiple layers subject to convection and radiation boundary conditions. The inclusion of radiation, in particular, is novel. A number of examples for various boundary conditions are given, including: fully transient convection, semi-transient radiation, and semi-transient combined convection–radiation. All results agree to better than 95% with FE results under the same boundary conditions.